True Hero
by EpikalStorms
Summary: Clockwork didn't save Danny's Family and friends from the explosion at the Nasty Burger. Now Danny lives in Jump City where he witnesses the formation and exploits of a team of super heroes. Teen Titans Crossover adopted. ON HIATUS(see poll)
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I dont own anything**_

Prologue

We surround ourselves with the specters of our past...

Their shadows define us...

They exemplify our dreams and equally as often they create our obstacles...

They house our heroes as entirely as they hide our demons...

One young halfa will soon learn what a true hero is, but there are many hardships he must overcome first.

He felt much pain, pain in his side, in his head, his throat, but most of all in his heart. Danny Fenton Had just defeated his evil future self, Dan Phantom, with his newly acquired ability the Ghostly Wail. As he sucked him into the Fenton Thermos, Dan said. "Its to late for you to save them..."

He tried to go ghost but had used way too much power with the Wail. As he tried to save his family who were strapped to a tank of Nasty sauce that was about to explode, He tripped and fell. Now here he was laying on the ground unable to get up and helpless to save his loved ones and Mr. Lancer.

Staring up into their faces he saw fear in their eyes and felt ashamed that after all he had promised, he failed them. But their wasn't just fear, there was also understanding that he had done everything he could and Danny would still blame himself for a long time because he couldn't see this. _Mom... Dad... Jazz... Tucker... Sam... im sorry_.

Time seemed to slow down and the sauce exploded causing him to see bright light and feel a stinging heat before darkness took him. After the explosion had settled down people came out of their homes and were shocked by what they saw. The street looked like a war zone with a few cars totaled and the dying flames in the Nasty Burger. In the middle of the street laid a boy with black hair covered in cuts and bruises.

Danny finally regained consciousness to the sound of whispering but he couldn't understand what they were saying. He tried to open his eyes but they were to heavy and he couldn't move his arms and legs because they felt like stones. After a while the whispering stopped and he heard a mans voice. "We need to let the poor boy rest, everybody out." Their was a shuffling of feet and a door closed. Quiet reigned once more and Danny soon dozed off into a dreamless sleep.

He woke up again and this time he could open his eyes. He found himself in a white sterile room laying in a bed with white sheets. He tried to sit up but a sharp pain stopped him from doing so and he looked down to see he was wearing white pajamas and underneath he had bandages around his side. Then thoughts of what had happened before, hit him like a steam roller. _Mom, Dad, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker, their all gone. _He started to do something he hadn't done in a long time, he cried and for a while he just laid there and did that.

The door to the room soon opened and in walked a nurse followed by a doctor. Upon seeing the crying boy the nurse walked over and gave him a motherly hug while whispering. "Its okay Daniel just let it all out." Danny winced at the formality of his name but didn't say anything about it and returned the hug. After a while the nurse let him go and left the room to return with a tray of food. The Doctor told him to sit up and he was going to examine him.

For fifteen minutes the doctor poked and prodded him asking him what hurt and checked his vision. "Well Daniel."

"Could you call me Danny?" Interrupted Danny who was rubbing his side after all the poking.

"Im sorry, Danny all your cuts seemed to have healed and your only other injury is your ribs but those will be fine after a day of resting." The Doctor paused for a second thinking before going on. "I find It remarkable how fast you have healed. Yesterday, you were brought in covered in cuts and bruises, and your heart beat was really slow. We thought we would lose you but over night you look completely healed."

Danny would normally get nervous at things like this but now he really didn't care if this man found out his secret. "I don't know why I healed so fast, so can I eat the food the nurse brought me." The Doctor nodded and walked out of the room seeing that Danny wanted to be alone.

The hospital food he was given tasted like cardboard but to a kid who hadn't eaten in two days, it was the best food ever. After finishing his food he saw the remote connected to the bed and decided to turn on the TV.

The first channel it showed had the news. "Last nights explosion at the Nasty Burger in Downtown Amity park claimed six lives. The bodies were Identified as Jasmin Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Jack Fenton, Tucker Foley, Samantha Manson, and Mr. Lancer." As the news reporter said each name a picture of them was shown. "A now orphaned Danny Fenton was also found injured about ten feet from the explosion." The picture they showed him was the one of him being put in an ambulance. "Our hearts go to this child who lost his family and friends in this tragic accident. Now Nasty Burger's special sauce is coming into question.." Danny turned it off tired of listening and decided to go back to sleep. Unknown to him right outside the hospital their was a meeting to going on to decide his future.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1 The Days After...**

In a wooded area not far from the hospital where Danny slept, three ghostly figures were speaking of the young halfa. One looked like a vampire, another halfa known as the Wisconsin ghost a.k.a. Vlad Plasmius or his human name Vlad masters. He was speaking to two other ghosts, one was tall and white wearing a black hat. His name is Walker and he runs the ghost prison. The other ghost was a cyborg with flames for hair, known as Skulker the "Ghost Zone's greatest hunter."

"I have asked you two here today because you both are the most powerful leaders in the Ghost Zone, and to make a truce between humans and ghosts," said Vlad in a sad voice. Both Skulker and Walker looked at each other before laughing.

"Vlad why would you ask for such a thing," asked Skulker in between laughs. At the dark look they received from him they stopped laughing.

"I ask for this truce after what happened to Daniel," said the old halfa in an angry voice.

"You mean the death of the punk's family and friends," said Walker who had opened his rule book. "Nowhere in my rule book does it say that a prisoner who loses their family should be pardoned."

Vlad was rubbing the bridge of his nose to stop an oncoming headache from the frustration these ghosts were giving him. "If you two would just shut-up and listen as I explain, you will know why im asking for this truce." Both ghosts immediately shut their mouths as his hands glowed red. "Last night as I was getting ready for bed, when Clockwork paid me a visit bringing me my self from the future. In the future I had become a decrepit old man. I had lost my ghost half who was merged with Daniel's ghost half creating the most powerful evil ghost to ever walk this plain of existence. The cause of all of this, is if young Daniel falls into Depression and that is why im making this truce, to keep from destroying the future." He paused for a moment taking a deep breath. "So will you agree to my truce and not attack anymore?"

Vlad held out his hand while both ghosts thought for a minute. "Yeah I agree to not attack the little whelp,"said Skulker as he grudgingly shook his hand, while also trying to squeeze the life out of it.

"I'll pardon the little punk until he crosses me again," said Walker as he also shook his hand.

"Remember this Plasmius, this truce wont last forever," said Skulker and as he was about to leave his arm rung and the PDA attached to it had words scrolling across it. "I thought I stopped this Damn thing from happening. Now I gotta go to the library and check out a book on a purple back Gorilla, again!" Jetpacks appeared on his back and he flew away. ( Im wondering if anybody had to check out that book, would it be there?)

"I'll spread the word through the Ghost Zone and Enforce it as law," said Walker who was grinning before he disappeared. Vlad sighed, his arms sagging.

"Maddie, Jack, my oldest most dearest friends, I hope you can forgive me for my past actions against you and your son."As he disappeared a teardrop hit the ground where he had stood.

Danny woke up in a cold sweat, he had a nightmare of his family dying and look of fear on their faces before the explosion was imprinted on his eyelids while the laughter of his older self rang through his head. As he sat up he felt pain in his side but it wasn't as bad as before. He noticed their were tears in his eyes but he did nothing about them. _I wonder what im going to do now?'_ His thoughts were interrupted when the nurse walked in a few seconds later to see if he was awake. "Daniel you have some visitors."

"Could you call me Danny, and I have visitors?" The nurse nodded before walking out of the room. _I wonder who would visit me, _thought Danny. His question was soon answered when Mr. And Mrs. Foley followed by Mr. And Mrs Manson walked in. Mrs. Foley rushed over and gave him a warm hug.

"Are you okay Danny?" Mrs. Foley asked. Danny saw pain in her and everybody's eyes but not only that, he also saw worry and caring.

"Yeah Mrs. Foley thanks." Danny returned the hug before she let go. Their was sniffling from Mrs. Manson and to everybody surprise especially Danny's, she rushed past Mrs. Foley and gave Danny a big hug.

"You were one of Sam's few friends." Mrs Manson was crying now. "All I ever did was look down on you and your family and im sorry." He returned the hug.

"Its ok Mrs Manson, I forgive you."

"Thank you Danny," and she let go. After a minute the room was silent and Danny decided to break the uneasy silence.

"Something was going on before the explosion, a ghost fight." Everybody in the room had their attention glued to Danny. "Danny Phantom was fighting a powerful ghost who was claiming to be his future self and we were helping him." Danny paused to take a breath and to wipe away tears forming in his eyes. "The evil ghost got the upper hand and the others were trapped in the Nasty Burger. Me and Phantom were trying to save them but the ghost wouldn't let us. I failed them and because of me their all dead." Danny hung his head low crying afraid to look at their reactions.

"Danny its not your fault," said Mr. Foley who was holding his wife as she cried.

"That's right Danny.. sniff.. you did everything you could." Said Mrs. Foley while the mansons nodded in agreement. "Tucker wouldn't blame you for this."

"And Sam wouldn't either." added Mrs. Manson.

"I know, but I still can't help thinking I could have done more..."

The two days after the Foley's and Manson's visit were quite uneventful. The Doctor wanted to keep him in the Hospital so he could monitor his condition until he was completely healed which Danny didn't object to. At the end of the second day Danny received a surprise, an unwanted surprise.

Danny was drawing on a sketch pad given to him by the Foleys and Mansons. He had just finished drawing a picture of his family and friends when their was a knock at the door followed by... "Hello Daniel." The formality of his name and the slimy voice that used it, almost caused him to jump from the bed and punch the speaker. He looked up from his drawing to see the richest bachelor on the planet, Vlad Masters.

"Plasmius," Danny replied, glaring at him

Vlad, unperturbed by Danny's glare, he sat down in the chair next to his bed observing him. The first thing he noticed was Danny's eyes which had once been full of youthful happiness were now dead, full of anguish and sorrow. "Daniel Im here to..."

"What, get me to dance on my parents graves, while swearing my loyalty to you? No thanks." Interrupted Danny whose glare deepened.

"Calm down Daniel, I'm not here to start a fight, Im here because im now your legal guardian."

"You're... my... what?" Stuttered Danny, then he remembered the events of the future and went silent.

"As you know, im a millionaire and I don't know how to take care of a teenager, so I make this offer to you from the goodness of my heart and the memory of your parents. You can either live with me or you can live on your own with an account setup where I will give you funds to live off of. The one stipulation of this deal is that you must go to school." Danny couldn't believe the deal Vlad was offering him.

"I'll live on my own," replied Danny feeling extremely relieved

"Good, then I will go get you signed out and at the end of the week we will get the documents required for where your going to live," said Vlad as he stood up

"What do you mean by where im going to live?"

"Well I thought you would like a change of scenery considering all the painful memories you have here. The place isn't to far from here and I can keep an eye on you since I own a few companies there."

Danny considered this for a minute. "What is the place?"

"Well my dear boy, the place is called Jump City."


	3. Chapter 3

**Two years later...**

Danny has changed over the two years he'd lived in Jump City. He had grown a lot taller almost reaching his dad's height but he hadn't become addicted to fudge which was one thing he was thankful for. His hair had grown out a little, remaining constantly messy but he never tried to change it... He had also changed his wardrobe so now he wore black and gray shirts instead of the usual white.

Danny currently stood at a counter while he finished typing in an order for a customer's "special" comic book when one of his new friends, Ben, walked up.

Over the last couple of years, Danny had started a new life. That included getting a job and making new friends. Sure he had a lot of money thanks to Vlad, but hard earned cash was a lot better in his opinion. When he first got to Jump City he found a job at an up and coming cyber café which was located close to his apartment and he's worked there ever since.

He has also made quite a few friends, and Ben was one of the first.

"Hey Danny, have you seen Matt? I haven't seen him since he got that new game system, and he has even missed school." Ben was a big guy. Not as tall as Danny, but still pretty big with short black hair.

"No, I haven't seen him but Jacob said he had been sick the other day... Speak of the devil, he just walked in." Matt on the other hand was about as tall as Danny and had short brown hair, which at moment was sticking out all over the place, like he just got out of bed.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Matt said before coughing a little bit.

"Dude, you look and sound like you've gone through hell twice!" exclaimed Ben.

"No duh Sherlock. I've been sick for a couple of days... Sorry, I haven't slept well the last few days."

"Are you sure you should be out of bed right now?" asked Danny who was quite concerned for his friend.

"Dude, I've been in bed for the last few days trying to sleep. Besides, I got some antibiotics from the doctor yesterday, so trust me I'm fine. Anyways, I'm here to see if my order for the expansion pack of Doom 5 was in yet."

"No, but it should be getting here soon." The Cyber Café Danny worked at was an interesting place. It had computers for gaming and internet access, while it also sold comic books and electronics. The good thing about working there was the discount he got on the merchandise, which he could share with his new friends. "So Ben, how was the party the other day?"

"It was great man, but why weren't you there?"

"I was feeling sick after I got off work and decided to go home." said Danny, but that was a lie. He had actually been in the middle of a fight with a big guy made out of stone.

When he was walking to the party, suddenly a giant stone freak came barging through a wall in front of him and right into the construction site he was passing by at the time. At work he had heard that the Teen Titans, the resident heroes in Jump City, were fighting some sludge monster at a toxic waste factory across town. So he decided to do something he didn't do very often anymore. He went ghost.

Over the last two years he had learned quite a few things about his ghost form. For example, he had learned how to change his uniform by releasing enough ectoplasm into the items he wanted to wear in order to make them ghost compatible. His uniform now consisted of a black vest over a black sleeveless shirt with black jeans and boots. On his arms he had white bandages wrapped around them and while his hands now sported white fingerless gloves. Under his shirt he wore a locket with his old DP logo carved on it. On the inside were two pictures, one of his old friends Sam and Tucker, and the other of his family.

His fight with the guy made of stone was relatively easy. Mainly due to the fact that the guy couldn't even touch him because of his intangibility. However, Stoney took a lot of damage before he could be brought down. When Danny had eventually knocked him down, he didn't take any chances and grabbed some random construction equipment and used all his strength to wrap it around him. As he surveyed his work, one of the Titans, Cyborg, showed up. Disappearing before he thought he was seen, he left a very confused Titan behind. Thanks to the fighting, his muscles were killing him and he was too exhausted to go to the party he intended to go to.

"Danny, Danny, are you okay?" Asked Ben, who looked concerned.

"Sorry, I just kinda spaced out." said Danny sheepishly "Well, I gotta finish sending a few more orders in so I'll talk to you guys later."

"Sure man, I gotta get home anyways."

"Later man." Ben and Matt left and Danny continued his work.

At six Danny got off work. He was heading to his apartment when he saw something he didn't usually see every day. There was a girl dressed in black and dark blue clothes standing next to an empty bus. But the odd thing about her wasn't her clothes. It was the fact that her hair and eyes were a bubble gum pink and her skin was extremely pale. When she waved her hand there was a pink flash, and the bus started moving down the street towards a baby carriage.

He then saw the Titans, who had been at the local pizza place, spring into action and saved the carriage while stopping the bus. Suddenly Starfire, Robin and Beastboy were blasted into a nearby alley by whatever was hidden in the carriage. Meanwhile, a guy who looked kinda like an ape picked up the bus and dropped it on Cyborg and Raven. Then what looked like a little toddler wearing a jetpack showed up and the fight between forces began.

Even though the Titans outnumbered them almost two to one, they were kept disorganized when their opponents used divide and conquer tactics. First, they got rid of Cyborg by strapping a rocket to his back and sending him flying, which also made Starfire leave in order to help him. Then their opponents just kept knocking the other Titans into each other before giving Robin their finishing moves. The Toddler blasted the ground with a gun, after which the pink haired sorceress used some pink hexbolts and the ape man slammed the ground. The ground underneath Robin gave out, sending him screaming into the rushing waters of the sewers.

Danny couldn't believe what he saw, the Titans beaten in close to three minutes. He quickly shook himself out of his stupor and looked around making sure nobody saw him. Going ghost behind a car, he dived through the ground, intangible and invisible.

After a few seconds of frantic searching he finally found the Titan's leader unconscious, floating through the sewers. Taking hold of Robins arm he pulled him into a nearby tunnel, laying him on the ground. Creating a green glow with his hands so he could see better, he checked to see if Robin was okay. He looked okay but would probably have a huge headache judging by the bruise on his forehead. Danny breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he might have to take him to a hospital when he didn't feel like explaining himself. _Sorry I couldn't help you guys earlier but... I just didn't want anybody to know about my powers. Besides, I'm no hero, just a freaky little boy with freaky little powers..._

When he noticed that Robin started wake, he went invisible and let the glow from his hands die, putting them in complete darkness. Robin stood up rubbing his head and looked around for a few seconds before he ran down the tunnel.

Danny phased up through the street still invisible and took to the air. Flying over the city, he tried to clear his head of memories about the past. Every time he thought about his past, when he had considered himself a hero, he would become depressed. _I failed to protect my friends, my family and there is nothing I can do to change it._

As he got closer to the waterfront he noticed the giant tower in the shape of a T, the home of the Teen Titans. He was brought out of his inner turmoil when he saw the four other Titans being tossed out of said place, one by one into the harbor. The three villains that they had been fighting earlier stood on the roof looking very proud with themselves, laughing at the Titans. Then the pink haired sorceress launched a pink blast at the water, causing a huge wave to smash into the now waterlogged heroes.

_But that doesn't mean I can't help them._ Danny's eyes glowed green. "I guess I'll give those three some ghostly haunting." With that said he flew off...

"Higher, a little to left, a little more... Perfect." Gizmo said, just finishing the mounting of Cyborg's arm on the wall in the main room of the tower. "Slade's going to have kittens when he learns we whipped the Titans and took their stinkin tower."

"Not to mention Robin's favorite fashion statement." Jinx added as she walked in wearing Robin's belt and carrying one of Raven's blue robes, which she grimaced at. "Ugh... But that's the only thing fashionable around here."

"Tell me about it, all their food is way out of date." Grumbled Mammoth as he started pulling food out of the fridge that was covered in blue mold and proceeded to eat it.

"You think that stuff's rotten, wait till you see their music," said Gizmo as he started to pull CDs out of a cabinet and proceeded to throw them over his shoulder. "Crud... Snot... Mega Crud..." While Unbeknownst to them, an invisible and intangible Danny had floated through the floor.

Danny's first reaction was that of surprise. The Main room and kitchen were filthy with things lying on the floor and dishes and trash piled up on the sink and counters. _I would have thought heroes kept their homes clean just in case bad guys decided to take them over. What the heck is that guy eating? Ew... I think I'm going to throw up._ The cause of him almost getting sick in ghost mode was when he spotted Mammoth eating a chicken leg covered in the blue mold and licking the bone afterwards.

Danny turned away from Mammoth to see the pink haired sorceress trying on a blue cloak. "Does she have anything that's not blue?" she commented. _Yeah, you're one to talk Pinky._ Then he saw the little midget throwing CDs all over the place.

_Since all three are here I guess it's time for some ghostly fun._ Danny concentrated and a few items all around the room gained a ghostly green aura. After a few seconds more of concentration, the items started to float. This new ability of ghostly telekinesis wasn't a powerful ability. It drained quite a bit of energy and took a lot of concentration, but came in handy for scaring people. A year ago he figured out this ability when he was too lazy to get up and grab the TV remote.

With an extra push of power, things started flying all over the room. Cabinet doors started opening and closing, and utter chaos ensued. The three occupants were surprised to say the least. "What the hell is going on here?" yelled Gizmo as 5 of the CDs he had thrown over his shoulder came flying back at him. Jinx got hit in the face with a ball that was composed of dirty socks smelling pretty ripe, while Mammoth got a face full of green gelatin covered in the blue mold.

While the three idiots were a little preoccupied, they didn't notice when Cyborg's arm got off the wall and scuttled over to the computer terminal. Once there, wires came out and started pressing on the key board, causing the alarms to go off and an emergency light overhead to come on. When that happened, Danny stopped his new power, exhausted. He had used that power on multiple items before, but not that many for as long as he did.

The three criminals were relieved when all the things in the room calmed down, but they couldn't understand why the alarm was going off. Gizmo walked up to the computer terminal and found Cyborg's arm waiting for him. As soon as Gizmo saw the arm, wires flew out of it, wrapping around him. With the arm taking off like a rocket, it pulled the pint sized villain up through the air duct while the little guy yelled profanities the whole way. Darkness engulfed Jinx, pulling her through the ceiling before she realized what happened. Mammoth on the other hand got hit with a powerful Starbolt, sending him into the elevator.

_I guess the Titans can handle those morons._ After that thought Danny flew out of the tower and headed back to his apartment, in desperate want of rest before he had work the next day.

After beating the Hive and handing them over to the police, the Titans returned to their home to assess the damage that had been done. "My tunes, they're all over the floor!" exclaimed Beastboy, before he rushed to pick up his CDs.

"This place looks like a tornado hit. What were the Hive doing in here?" pondered Robin as he picked up some trash.

"I don't think that it was the Hive that caused this." said Cyborg, who was sitting at the main computer. "Check out this video I got earlier." Expanding The clip to the main screen, it showed Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth getting pelted by items that were floating around the room. All the Titans turned to look at Raven, who just gave them a deadpan look in return.

"I didn't do it. Cyborg, could you freeze frame the video?" After pausing the video Raven pointed at one of the floating objects. "Do any of you guys notice anything odd about this other than the fact that its floating?" The Titans studied the object for a moment.

"Yes friend Raven, the object glows slightly green!" exclaimed Starfire.

"It is, and when I possess an object it glows black. However, these objects seems to possess a ghostly aura."

"Are you saying there was a _ghost_ in my tower?" said Cyborg who couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I could feel that a very powerful spirit was in the tower before we ambushed the Hive, but I couldn't tell if it was a ghost or not. Most ghosts and apparitions strong enough to do what we just saw are usually very malevolent. However, the one in the tower had a benevolent aura."

"Whoa, whoa, are you telling me a _good_ ghost did this?" asked Beastboy.

"I was saved earlier after I fell into the sewers," interrupted Robin, who had been lost in thought throughout most of the conversation. "But the only thing I remember was seeing was a guy with white hair and a green light. Then the guy just vanished. Cyborg, didn't you say you saw someone else stop Cinderblock the other day?"

"Yeah, while you were fighting that overgrown waste monster, I had heard that Cinderblock was destroying a construction site. On the way there I saw a bunch of green flashes. When I finally got there, a guy with white hair was floating over Cinderblock, who was unconscious and tied in some of the construction equipment."

Robin thought for a moment. "Maybe there is another hero in Jump city. But if that was the case, why wouldn't he want us to know he was helping?"

"He probably wants to keep his powers a secret." said Raven.

The Titans went silent, pondering Raven's words when they heard a low rumbling noise. Everybody turned to see a blushing Starfire. "I shall go fetch something to eat." With that said, she flew to the fridge and when she looked inside she gasped in horror. "What happened to all our blue furry food? Even my garburd is gone, and I was planning for us to share." At the thought of the green gelatinous Tameranian food she had prepared, the other Titans went pale. When thinking of it covered in blue mold, it caused them to go from pale to green, or in Beastboy's case, greener. They silently thanked God for it being gone.

Danny flew back to his apartment lost in thought. _If I keep helping the Titans like this, maybe I should try to join their team._ His thoughts however were interrupted by a powerful voice in his head. With extreme pain following it, he almost fell out of the sky. _**What are you thinking? Your no hero, you already tried that and look what that got you. Your friends and family are dead and you, your destined to become the most powerful evil ghost in existence.**_ The voice and pain all of a sudden were gone before he could comprehend what had happened. Letting out a sigh, he continued on his way.

When he finally reached his apartment, he floated into his kitchen to find an unpleasant thing in his kitchen. "Hello Daniel, I like your new clothes." Vlad was sitting at Danny's kitchen table nursing a cup of tea.

"Hi Vlad, what are you doing here?" asked Danny as he changed back into his human form. Almost once every week, Vlad would come to visit him, so it wasn't too big of a surprise.

"I just came to check up on you, and to enjoy your performance earlier. Those criminals didn't know what hit them. So, Daniel, I'm guessing that you're going back into the hero business."

"No, I haven't. I just got really annoyed with those three idiots."

"Well, if they find out that you're helping them, what are you going to say your name is, _Danny Phantom?_ You might not want to go and bring up your past. That could cause you problems considering that you used to be on Amity's most wanted list." Danny knew he was right, but he couldn't really come up with a new identity. Suddenly, it finally hit him.

"Then I guess my new name will be...Shade."

"Shade...that's an interesting name."

"Anyways how's the cat I gave you a while back named Fruitloop?" asked Danny, smiling mischievously.

Vlad scowled. "He's fine and my wife absolutely adores him, but she still asks me why you named him Fruitloop."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

Danny had just finished ringing up an order for a new computer when the phone rang. "Hello, Cyber-Life, Danny speaking."

"Hey Danny, this is Cyborg. Is the coast clear?"

"Yeah all clear. However, they have scheduled club meeting tonight so be careful."

"Thanks man."

The Cyber-Life catered to the wants and needs of a lot of people, one of which being fan club meetings. A while back the Teen Titans came in just to relax and purchase some items, but they were mobbed by their visiting fan club. After that, Cyborg or Robin would call beforehand to see if the fan club was there before they came.

The Teen Titans fan club isn't the only one out there. When he first came to work at his current job, he saw a fan club for Danny Phantom, but once the Teen Titans formed he never saw it again. Other fan clubs included the Justice league, not to mention each of the individual heroes that made that group up. Fan clubs didn't only have to do with heroes, but also TV shows, manga, and books. One of the most funny moments he remembered having to do with fan clubs was when a fight almost broke out at a Kim Possible meeting, between people who supported Kim going out with Ron and people who argued Kim should go out with Shego.

Personally, Danny thought it was dumb that people would argue about whether TV show characters should go out or not. He had seen the show on several occasions so he could see each sides points. But he couldn't understand why they would argue about it instead of just agreeing that they disagree...

"Hey man." Danny was brought out of his musings of fighting fans when Cyborg walked in.

"You all by yourself today? What about the others?" asked Danny as he turned off a game of solitaire that he had been playing.

"Yeah well, I had to get out of the tower. Beastboy was acting suspiciously and after what I did to him the other week, I didn't feel like sticking around. The other Titans were busy; Robin was looking for some leads on a criminal, Starfire was cooking, and Raven, well she didn't want to come."

"What _did_ you do to Beastboy?" asked Danny, curiosity evident in his voice.

"Last week I put red dye in his shampoo, it ended up turning him brown for two days." Cyborg chuckled.

"I'd try to get you back too if I was him." Danny said, laughing. "So what can I get for you?"

"Well I heard that the latest Doom expansion pack gives new upgrades and allows access to harder levels. I need it if I'm going to beat the Online Phantom tonight." Danny smiled at his words before he pulled out a specific key and unlocked the display case.

"Yeah, we just got a few copies of the Doom 5 expansion pack in today." Danny pulled out a box and laid it next to the register. "Anything else?"

"No, that's it. Later man." Cyborg paid for his game and left with a really pleased expression on his face.

As soon as Cyborg had exited the cafe, Ben walked up from the computer he has been playing on for the last hour, looking a little surprised. "Dude, you're friends with the Titans. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Only sort of. Whenever they come in when I'm working I talk to them."

"Why do you sound like it's no big deal that they're the Teen Titans?"

Danny sighed. "They're teenagers just like us. Besides, they're hero status is a little overrated." Ben on the other hand couldn't believe what Danny was saying.

"Whatever you say. Still, do you think you could get me an autograph from Starfire?" asked Ben excitedly.

Danny rolled his eyes. "You do realize that she's way out of your league. Besides, from what I've heard, her and Robin are an item, so don't be too surprised when your butt gets kicked."

Danny finished with the orders, so once his shift was over he headed home for a nice game of Doom. As he walked home he noticed the dark storm clouds in the sky and every now and then would hear thunder. Not too worried about the oncoming storm, he put some headphones in his ears and turned on his mp3 player, listening to the first song that came on.

_On the ground I lay  
Motionless in pain  
I can see my life flashing before my eyes  
Did I fall asleep  
Is this all a dream  
Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare_

_I will not die (I will not die)  
I will survive_

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you_

_I feel alive, when you're beside me_

_I will not die, I'll wait here for you  
In my time of dying _

**BOOM!**

Feeling an explosion, Danny quickly pulled off his headphones and looked up. Across the street from him, two guys stood on top of a building. One guy was blue and wore an odd outfit with thunder clouds on the front. The other guy was yellow and his outfit had a lightning bolt instead.

"Brother, this looks like a great place to have fun without those other guys ruining it," said the yellow one as sparks crackled around his hands.

"Yes brother, this looks like another great place to show off our power," said the blue guy before he clapped his hands. The result of which caused another loud boom and the ground shook.

Beside him, the yellow guy sent a lightning bolt streaking towards Danny along with a crowd of people. Everybody ducked as he made a split second decision and quickly put a dome shield around them. When the lightning bolt hit the shield, it ricocheted back up into the sky. Hastily removing the shield, within the chaos of people running away he turned himself invisible and transformed into his ghost form.

Now Danny doesn't get mad as easily as he used to, however when he heard the guys talking about showing off their powers, having fun, and then attacking people, to say the least he was very pissed. He reappeared floating twenty feet from the two brothers. As they tried to clear their dumbstruck faces from seeing the lightning deflected, the yellow one asked, "Why did you ruin our fun, white haired one." Pouting, he looked like a child who had his favorite toy taken away.

"Fun. You think that attacking innocent people is fun." stuttered Danny, quickly losing his cool.

"They should get out of the way of our fun and so should you." said the yellow guy before shooting lightning at Danny. Swerving out of the way, he hit the yellow guy square in the chest with an ecto-blast, sending him into the street below. The impact created a small crater.

Danny turned to address the remaining blue guy, who had yet to actually do anything. The expression on his face told Danny that he was thinking about what he had said. "Do you think it's fun to hurt others?"

"I... I don..." Before the blue guy could give a proper reply, a lightning bolt hit Danny, smashing him into a wall.

"Come Thunder, we'll go find somewhere else to have fun." said the yellow guy as he flew back up, looking unscathed from the earlier attack.

"Yes brother Lightning." Before he left, Thunder looked one last time at where Danny had fallen.

Danny got up from the rubble looking completely okay, minus his hair which was standing up on end, but on the inside it was a whole different story. _Why did I let my guard down_? _I'm so stupid. That's why I'll never be a hero, I always screw up._ Danny sighed before turning invisible and flew back to his apartment, still lost in thought.

Unbeknownst to him, there had been two other people that had seen the fight between him and the brothers. One, dressed like an old man, grinned as he watched the young halfa disappear from sight. "Interesting..."

The other witness to the battle, was Raven...

Several minutes ago, Raven was flying around the area looking for the two troublesome brothers, lost in thought and almost laughing at the previous events that happened that day. _Poor Beastboy, I __**almost**_ _feel bad for_ _that little Klorbag getting partnered with Starfire_. _But he really shouldn't have pulled that stupid prank. I even tried to warn him that Cyborg had left the tower earlier, but he wouldn't listen... _Raven thoughts were interrupted when a loud boom sounded in the distance, followed by a bolt of lightning streaking up from the ground. "There are so many things wrong with what just occurred." Raven sighed flying in the direction of the "abnormal weather patterns."

Getting closer to the origin of the lightning, she saw a guy with white hair confronting the two brothers. Lightning blasted at him, but the white haired guy swiftly dodged and then planted a green blast directly into Lightning's chest. _Was that a starbolt? No_, _only Starfire uses those_. B_ut then, what was it_? Raven pondered as she got closer. Deciding to get only close enough to hear what was being said, she hid in the shadows.

"Do you think it's fun to hurt others?" asked the white haired man angrily. Thunder was trying to answer when Lightning hit the white haired guy with a thunderbolt.

"Come Thunder, we'll go find somewhere else to have fun," said Lightning. Thunder seemed to hesitate before finally going with his brother.

She was about to go check to see if the white haired guy was okay when he stood up from the rubble looking relatively unharmed. After a moment passed, she felt strong emotions coming from him and this was when she was at least a hundred feet from him. Most of the emotions she felt coming from him were sadness and sorrow with a little anger mixed in that she could tell was directed towards himself. All of a sudden, right before her very eyes, he disappeared, catching her off guard. After composing herself, she scanned the area around her, finding nothing. She pulled out her communicator and contacted Robin.

Robin's face appeared on the communicator. "Raven, I saw the lightning. Are the brothers still there?"

"No, they took off. However, I did see them fighting a white haired guy."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you about it later. The brothers are heading towards where Beastboy and Starfire are searching."

"Good, I'll contact the others. Robin out."

Raven turned off the communicator and turned to leave when she thought back to the white haired person. The moment that he stood up from the rubble, she had a glimpse of his face and she could swear that she had seen him before, though she couldn't remember where...

After the fire monster that was created through the trickery of the "old man" was destroyed by the rain the brothers created, the brothers approached Beastboy, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg. "I am sorry for the trouble we have made." Thunder said as he bowed to Beastboy. Looking over, he elbowed Lightning who in turn also bowed.

"I... am also sorry."

"You have taught us much Green one, thank you." Thunder said as he shook Beastboy's hand.

"Don't thank me, thank the person who taught me." Replied Beastboy, motioning to Starfire. She walked forward and bowed to the brothers.

"Thank you for helping to defeat the flame monster."

Thunder looked around for a second, searching for somebody, before speaking again. "If you see the white haired one, please tell him we are sorry for hurting him."

"White haired one?" asked Beastboy, a little confused.

"Yes, he stopped one of our attacks and also tried to stop us from causing more trouble earlier."

"We will tell him when we see him." Raven said, before anybody could say more.

"Thank you. Come Brother let us leave." With a flash of lightning, Thunder and Lightning were gone.

"Why didn't we get more information on this white haired guy?" asked Cyborg.

"Earlier I saw the fight between them and the white haired guy. I'll explain what happened once Robin gets here."

When Robin got back he explained about the old man, who was Slade in disguise. Raven then explained everything that she had seen in the fight between the white haired guy and the brothers.

"So you're sure this white haired guy is another hero, not just a friendly spirit?" asked Robin as he soaked in all the information that he was given.

"Yes. I could sense a life force from him and he showed just as many different emotions as a normal human teenager."

"Well Titans, it seems that along with a new enemy in the city, we have a new ally."

When Danny got back to his apartment he fixed himself something to eat, thankful for the fact that he could cook decently. After years of his parents mutating food with their "experiments", he was forced to learn how to cook at a young age for survival. After finishing a meal of hamburgers he had made with his own homemade special seasoning, he decided to play a game of Doom.

Doom had changed a lot since him, Sam, and Tucker had started playing it. You could still collect the seven silver keys and get unlimited access to the online world, but there had been a lot of additions since then. Many longer and harder levels had been created with huge bosses and enemies. Then there was that one point in time that they tried to condense player killing to one area called "Bounty Hunter", but with the cries of outrage coming from all the players, they removed it.

He logged on to his character Phantom, widely known to other players as the Online Phantom after he defeated the strongest boss in the game single handedly.

**Phantom has logged on**

**Firion98: Hey Danny, u ok**

**Phantom: Yea Mat, why do u ask?**

**Firion98: Didn't u here the 2 guys causin trouble all over the city **

**Phantom: Yea I was at a place they attkd (**

**Firion98: Wat happened?**

**Phantom: A little destruction, not hurt. where's Ben?**

**Firion98: Haven't seen him on today**

**Ronan360 logged on**

**Ronan360 : Man u wont believe wat happened**

**Firion98: I spoke to soon**

**Ronan360 : Wat?**

**Phantom: Lol! Nvm**

**Ronan360 : anyways a giant fire monster was near my house when the teen titans stopped it with the help of those brothers**

**Firion98: cool did you get Starfire's autograph**

**Ronan360 : NO they left (**

**Phantom: Could you'll shut it about autographs and meet me on levl 9**

**Firion98: Sure...**

**Ronan360 : fine.. Is this because Cyborg is looking for you**

**Phantom: yea**

After an hour of fighting noobs and a very annoying guy named Atlas, Danny was starting to think Cyborg wasn't going to challenge him. Then two guys appeared online. One was named Beastman, looking like a wolfman from the movies, and the other was Roboman, a guy wielding heavy artillery.

That night Raven had been trying, and failing miserably, to fall asleep. Her thoughts kept returning to the white haired guy she had seen earlier that day. She remembered all the emotions he aimed at himself that he exhibited and she knew that those kind of people were usually self-destructive. His glowing green eyes stuck out in her mind the most. They looked like they could peer into someone's soul, yet behind them you could see the clouds of pain and sadness.

Realizing that she wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon, she decided to get some tea. Putting a cloak over her black pajamas, she left the solitude of her bedroom. Once she was close to the main room she heard the yelling. "I can't find him." Entering the living room she saw what the commotion was all about. Beastboy and Cyborg were sitting on the couch with two laptops hooked up to the large TV set, which showed the game they were playing.

"BB, I just got information on the Phantom. He's located on the ninth level." said Cyborg as he started pushing buttons really fast.

"I'm so there." replied Beastboy as he matched Cyborg's ferocity.

Raven just shook her head as she went into the kitchen, trying to ignore them. She had just started boiling some water when her mind wandered to an unexpected topic. _The word phantom_ _has the definition of spirit or ghost. Our mysterious hero may use ghostly powers, but that is a little far of a stretch, isn't it? The fact that out of_ the _thousands of people who play that game,_ _it would be possible for those two to be connected. _Seeing her tea done, she was brought out of her thoughts.

"Finally! We found him!" exclaimed Beastboy. "Now to take away his precious little title of being the greatest fighter in Doom."

Quieting her mind against the outrageous thought that the person Beastboy and Cyborg were playing against could possibly be the hero from earlier, she decided to watch their stupid game. Walking back into the living room, she nearly spilled her cup of tea at what she saw. The video game character Phantom had white hair and was garbed in all black, except for the white bandages around his arms. With the character looking so much like the hero it was quite eerie, but the one major difference was the fact that it had blue eyes.

She watched their battle, finding it quite funny due to the fact that Beastboy and Cyborg were getting their butts handed to them. The guy may have had two other allies, but they didn't even try to help him. They just watched the fight as people would a spectator sport. When Cyborg and Beastboy were beaten and in tears, Raven decided to go to bed. Though she still wondered if the person who played that character was their mysterious hero.

The next morning in the tower was quiet. Even Beastboy and Cyborg didn't even have their usual argument over the vegetarian versus meat eater lifestyle. They just sat at the table, nursing their bowls of cereals while they mourned their loss against Phantom. When they recounted their loss to Robin, they exaggerated it by saying that Phantom had five other guys on his side when he played against them.

"Don't you mean that you got both your butts kicked by Phantom, on his own, when you both tried to double team him?" interrupted Raven in her usual monotone voice. As if she grew a second head, Beastboy and Cyborg stared at her. Robin on the other hand looked mildly puzzled, while Starfire for her part just stared off into space as she drank an economy sized bottle of mustard. "I was getting myself some tea last night when I heard the ruckus of you two losing very badly to another player."

Cyborg and Beastboy blushed in embarrassment while Robin bursted out laughing. Raven almost grinned at the look on Beastboy and Cyborg's faces as they went into the living room, grumbling.

Later that day, Raven was busy reading a book called _Blood Legacy, the Story of Ryan_ when the rest of the Titans headed out the door. "Friend Raven, would you like to go out with us for the time of hanging out." asked the excited Tameranian.

Raven thought for a moment before deciding that she would appreciate some fresh air. "Sure Starfire."

"Oh joyous you're going with us friend."

"Maybe I shoul...dn't." Starfire, ignorant to her pleas of staying behind, dragged her along with the rest of them as they walked out.

The Titan's first stop was their favorite pizza place, where their usual argument broke out over whether to order veggie or meat lovers pizza. After finally ordering the usual extra large pizzas, one veggie, a meat lovers, and one supreme, they went over to Cyber-café. There, Danny was working at the time...

When they got there, Raven immediately got herself an herbal tea, one of the few reasons she actually liked the place. Once the lady behind the counter gave her the tea, she went and sat at her usual spot in one of the darkest areas in the room. Normally she would be reading a book, but today she just felt like observing the surroundings around her. She saw Robin comedically trying to explain the different kinds of books to Starfire over by bookshelves. Cyborg and Beastboy on the other hand were up at the front, explaining to the guy running the register about their loss to Phantom.

Raven remembered seeing the guy running the register almost every time she came with the others, but had never paid much attention to him before. Currently he had a knowing grin plastered on his face as he listened to the woes of the defeated. As she studied the guy, he seemed to resonate a feeling of familiarity within herself, until she remembered the mysterious hero. Thinking on that thought, the two did look similar. However, unlike the hero from before, she couldn't sense any strong power from him.

Turning, Raven then noticed Starfire happily giving her autograph to two guys while Robin watched, his jealousy quite evident on his face. The dark sorceress was willing to bet that if he had been holding his bow staff, he would have bent and broke it in half by now.

After paying for their stuff and walking out, Raven was still lost in thought when she thought she felt a tinge of the strong emotions coming from somewhere in the store. It seemed similar to what she felt from the white haired hero, but she couldn't be sure. "Raven, you okay?" Robin asked looking worried.

"I'm fine. It is just that I thought I sensed something..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4 Date with Destiny, _Yeah right!_**

Several weeks later, Danny was leaving school for the day. From out of the crowd of stampeding students, Matt and Ben approached their friend. They were both arguing about the grades they recently received on a test in science. "Dude, it's not my fault you failed." Ben said.

"Well you could have at least let me cheat off you." Matt said in a pleading tone.

"So Danny, how did you do on Mrs. Roger's test?" Ben asked his annoyance quite evident.

Danny just shrugged before pulling a paper out of his binder and scanning it. "I got a hundred."

"_What?_" Ben and Matt exclaimed at the same time.

"How do you always manage to ace her tests, when the rest of us have trouble just making an eighty in there?" Ben asked his annoyance turning into disbelief.

"Well if it helps, my parents were very smart, if not a little eccentric, scientists and inventers." Danny said.

"Do you think I could cheat off you?" pleaded Matt.

"No."

"Please…"

"No, because the teacher isn't that stupid. However, if you are up to it I'll help you study. That is if you can get off Doom for five seconds every night."

"Must… not stop… playing… the precious." Matt said doing a Gollum impression.

Danny and Ben rolled their eyes. "So Danny, are you staying for the contest to see whose car is the loudest before prom tonight?"

"Yeah, I've been wondering who has the loudest car. I'm betting on it being one of the teacher's."

Danny, Ben, and Matt headed out to the parking lot where the contest was taking place. Standing where they were they could hear the very loud music coming from the nearby vehicles. However, what soon caught their attention was a semi that had pulled up and parked in front of all the other vehicles. The driver jumped out and climbed onto the trailer. From his vantage point, Danny could see that the guy had spiky white hair and wore an orange jumpsuit with the sleeves ripped off.

"Hey everybody let me show you what loud music actually is." the guy yelled, his English accent evident. He proceeded to pull a guitar off his back and strummed a chord.

Danny had gotten a bad feeling from the guy when he first arrived but he didn't see what was about to happen next. He never expected the sound wave attack, similar to what an old enemy of his used to have, when the guy played his guitar. The sound waves caused a few car windows to shatter and all the people in the area ran away screaming, covering their ears.

Danny and his friends, who were pretty close to the guy, were thrown back against a wall. Staggering to his feat, Danny rubbed his pounding head. Looking over to see how his friends were, he saw that they were both knocked unconscious. Lifting up his friends with more strength than a teen his size should have, he carried them away from the scene of destruction at a run.

He got them to other side of the school where he found a few panicking teachers trying to get students to safety. Laying his two friends down, he said to the teachers, "Get these two some medical attention. I'm going to go see if I can find any more people who are of need of help." Before the teachers could reply, he ran back the way he came, turning invisible and changing into his ghost form.

Pulling off two pieces of his bandages, he curled them into balls and coated them in ectoplasm before shoving them into his ear to try and block as much noise as possible. Now hearing only a slightly muffled playing, he could only wish that he had brought a pair of earplugs to completely cut out the noise. _Now it's time to go and kick that guy's ass for hurting my friends._

When Danny got back to the noisy, guitar playing idiot, he saw that the guy was rocking out and a bunch of cars had already been knocked over. Turning visible in front of the guy, the rocker stopped playing and smiled. "So you've come to listen to the great Punk Rocket?"

"No, I've come to stop the idiot who's playing his music way too loud." Danny replied coldly.

"You? Stop me? Ha ha ha ha! I guess I'll have to turn it up a little then." Turning a little dial on his guitar from three to six, Punk Rocket continued to play. Danny tried going intangible, but the sound messed with his concentration and he was blasted into a wall. Quickly recovering, Danny got up and started unleashing a flurry of quick ecto-blasts, which collided with sound waves. While the sound waves didn't stop the attacks, they still slowed the blasts down enough to make it easy for Punk Rocket to dodge them.

Danny was getting angrier by the second and as his anger grew, so did his accuracy and power in his attacks, even with the sound waves impeding them.

When one blast missed his head by a few meters, Punk Rocket paused and laughed. "What's got your knickers in a bunch?" In his brief lull of playing the guitar, a blast knocked his pick out of his hand and scratched the top of his guitar. With a murderous look crossing Punk Rocket's face he said, "You put a nick in my baby, now you are dead meat." He then pushed a button on the semi he had driven earlier. One side of it fell away to reveal eight very big amps in two rows stacked on top of each other. He then reached over and plugged in his guitar.

_If that was without the amps then... oh crap!_ Danny quickly sent a blast at the amps but it was too late. Punk Rocket had already started playing and the sound waves stopped his attack, causing an explosion. Danny tried to put up a shield, but it was to no avail. The sound waves reverberated through his shield, making him lose his concentration and once again he was thrown into the wall that seemed to love him so much.

When Danny staggered to his feet he felt nausea and dizziness sweep over him while a little blood drizzled out of his ears. _This guy could give Ember a run for her money. I guess I'll have to use my ghostly wail despite the risk that I may pass out._ Danny rose into the air while taking a deep breath, feeling power fill his diaphragm. Waiting a moment, he then unleashed his most devastating attack, the ghostly wail. Seeing this, Punk Rocket was determined to win against the level of noise and started playing his guitar, his sound waves colliding with the sound waves of the ghostly wail.

Punk Rocket's sound waves may have been powerful, but Danny's ghostly wail was on a whole different level. The ghostly wail overtook the other sound waves and obliterated everything in its path. The amps and semi were completely totaled along with Punk Rocket's guitar and a part of a building that was behind him.

Danny touched down on the ground, surprised that he had quite a bit of energy left, even enough to stay in ghost form and perhaps use another ghostly wail. _My powers must have grown a lot over the last few years even though I haven't used them much. Now what am I gonna do with this idiot?_ He looked down at Punk Rocket, who was quivering in fear, and then at the cord to the amps before smiling.

* * *

The Titans had been alerted of Punk Rocket's "activities" and were headed straight there, when a loud noise that would later be described as a sound of death reverberated throughout the entire city. The Titans felt shivers run down their spines at the sound.

Raven nearly lost her concentration when she felt a huge spike in spiritual energy in the area where the sound was coming from and nearly fell out of the sky. Starfire, who was right next to her, helped right herself in the air. "Raven, are you well?"

"I'm fine, thank you Starfire." Raven didn't know what caused that huge spike in energy, but she had a sneaking suspicion that their mysterious hero was behind it.

* * *

Once at the scene of Punk Rocket's attack, they found what looked a lot like a war zone. About fifty cars were now complete wrecks, part of a building had collapsed, scorch marks covered nearly every surface, and bits of rubble littered the ground. The Titans scanned the scanned the area until they found Punk Rocket.

He was laying on the ground, tied up in what looked like a guitar cable rocking back and forth in a fetal position, mumbling to himself. "Stop… All the noise… Please stop the noise... My guitar... it's gone… Stop the noise... Please…"

Robin approached him carefully with the Titans in tow. He bent down to check on the captive's injuries and tried to ask questions. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Stop the noise! Please stop the noise…" Robin, after finding no serious physical injuries, had Cyborg pick him up and carry him as they headed over to where the police and ambulances were located.

The Titans were lost in thought about what they witnessed and the state of the criminal they had come to arrest, but Beastboy decided to add his input anyway. "Talk about déjà-vu. He looks like Dr. Light did after Raven lost her temper with him." Though with the glare that Raven gave him at his words, he decided that now was a good time to shut his mouth.

After handing Punk Rocket to the police, the chief walked up to them. "Titans we're glad that you could stop this madman, but what was that terrible noise?"

The Titans looked at each other before Robin spoke. "Someone else defeated him before we got here and quite honestly, we don't know what that sound was."

"Did Punk Rocket tell you who defeated him?"

"No, in his current state of mind he was unable to tell us anything. By any chance were there any witnesses?"

"We do have several students who were injured during his attack." Leading them over to the ambulance, the chief pointed out three teenagers with bandages around their heads. "The rest of the students had to go to the hospital because of their severe injuries but these three were healthy enough to stay."

"Thank you chief." The chief nodded to them and went over to a squad car and got on the radio.

"Danny!" exclaimed both Beastboy and Cyborg when they noticed him.

"Hey guys, uhh… let me introduce you to my friends, this is Ben and that is Matt." Danny said while motioning to the two guys next to him who in turn were staring at Starfire. "We were at the loudest car contest when that idiot attacked."

"Did either of you guys see anybody other than Punk Rocket during the attack?" asked Robin.

"No, I got knocked unconscious by Punk Rocket right off the bat." replied Matt.

"So did I, and if it wasn't for Danny we probably would have gotten…"

"Fenton!" Ben was interrupted by an approaching teacher. "After the amount of strength you just showed earlier, you're most definitely joining the football team."

Matt turned to Danny with a smile on his face. "I told you that the football coach had seen you earlier after you saved _oof_." Matt was silenced when he was elbowed in the side by Danny.

"Coach, I'm not joining the football team. Besides, what happened earlier was no big deal, it was pure adrenaline."

The Titans, who had been watching from the sidelines, were very confused by the conversation, so Robin decided to ask what was on all their minds.

"Excuse me, but what are you all talking about?"

The coach started in surprise when he finally noticed the Teen Titans, who had been standing there the whole time. "This young lad here, he managed to save his unconscious friends by carrying them both to safety. At the same time!" All the titans looked at a sheepish Danny and then to his friends, who both probably weighed more than him, individually. "Then he went back to see if there was anybody else who needed help."

Robin walked up to Danny, who was now fascinated with a spot on the ground. "Danny, did you see anybody fighting Punk Rocket?"

"Er…no. When I went back, I got knocked into a wall. Somehow I managed to escape without getting hurt again."

"You're a true hero Fenton! The school and city has plans to show its appreciation for the bravery you showed today, and you _will_ join the football team." The coach said before slapping Danny on the back.

"Oww! You do know I just got hurt, right? Geez..." Danny replied indignantly as he winced and rubbed his back.

Now if there was anybody around Danny that could see what he was thinking, they would have seen him mentally beating his head repeatedly against a wall while calling himself stupid. The funny thing however, was that there was somebody who had decided to see what he was thinking.

* * *

_I have to know if he is lying or not. Punk Rocket was defeated by somebody and this kid's emotions are going haywire. He may even be our mysterious hero. _Raven thought as she walked up and placed glowing blue hands on his wounds, healing them. While she was at it, she also attempted to read his mind. Normally, she was against something such as reading people's minds, but curiosity on what he really knew about what happened was getting the better of her. But as soon as she tried to peer into his mind, she encountered powerful mental barriers. She could have easily broken through them, but if she did that he would notice as soon as she did.

Then Danny looked up, and she could see his blue eyes staring up at her. _His eyes are beautiful, and he does looks kind of cute... Wait, did I just think he was cute? Okay, that's just weird. Hm… It seems that his emotions have settled down. Is it because of me? _

Dismissing her thoughts, she pulled away her hands and moved onto Matt. She started to heal him, but as soon as she peered into his mind she immediately pulled back out, hoping that she wasn't blushing. The most noticeable things in his mind were images of Starfire that Raven hoped to never see ever again. She moved on to heal Ben, this time without even trying to read his mind, seeing that he had the same sort of expression on his face as his friend.

* * *

_Fenton you idiot! Look at where you got yourself now. Everybody around you is thinking that you are some kind of hero when you're no... _Danny snapped out of his inner turmoil when he felt his wounds being healed. Looking up, he saw the dark Titan, Raven, with her hands on his head, glowing blue. He stared at her covered face and caught sight of her amethyst eyes. Thanks to the blue glow coming from her hands, he could now make out the face that was usually hidden beneath her hood. _She's so beautiful, why would she hide herself under that cloak? Wait… Beautiful? Great… I'm turning into my friends, falling for a girl like this who is completely out of my league. _The glow of her hands died and when he considered it, he felt a whole lot better than he had earlier, and not just physically.

She silently walked over and healed both Ben and Matt, who in turn paid very little attention to her. Their eyes were mainly focused on Starfire, and Danny couldn't help but feel ashamed at the way they were staring at her.

He then noticed that the other Titans were busy talking to the police chief, who looked quite perplexed.

"Raven we've got trouble, a few jewelry stores are being robbed." Robin yelled.

Raven nodded and the glow from her hands faded completely as she followed after the rest of the Titans.

As soon as the Titans were out of ear shot Danny turned to his friends. "Since both of you are healed now, could you please get your eyes back into your heads?"

* * *

Miles away, in a dark basement on the other side of Jump city, there could be heard a loud buzzing sound, like that of many insects. Tanks filled the room and behind each pane of glass you could see many bright eyes peering out. At the back of the room there was the outline of a tall muscular guy, who was laughing joyfully. "Patience my children, soon you shall wreak the havoc that you crave. Soon I shall have the power I deserve. Soon the entire city will bow before its new master, Killer Moth. Ha ha ha ha." The guy stepped out of the shadows, revealing the form of a man wearing a giant moth costume.

However, his laughing was soon interrupted by a loud whiny voice. "Daddy! DADDY!..."

Running upstairs, he burst into a blindingly pink room, almost knocking the door off its hinges. Walking over, he found his blonde haired daughter sitting cross-legged on her bed. "Daddy's working Kitten, can't this wait until…"

"No. He broke up with me. My stupid ex-boyfriend, Fang broke up with me and now I don't have a date for the prom." Kitten ranted while she walked around her room, throwing things as she went before she finally flung herself onto her bed and started to wail.

Killer Moth sat down next to her and hesitantly patted her head. "Uh… There, there. I'm sure you'll find another date."

"Ugh, prom is tonight, daddy! I don't have enough time to find a date." Killer Moth shrunk beneath the angry yell from his daughter. "You're going to find one for me."

Killer Moth jumped to his feet. "Now Kitten be reasonable. You don't seriously expect me to…"

"And I don't want just anyone. I want someone handsome, and popular and totally cool. Someone no other girl could get. Someone who will drive Fang wild with jealousy, I want…"

* * *

Robin was now stuck in the Titan's tower, paralyzed due to the venom that the "jewel thief" had shot him with before he got away. The good only thing about the whole situation was that the thief would stick out anywhere he would go, mainly due to the large spider he had for head.

Starfire held Robin upside down in the main room of the tower and started stretching and bending his legs making cracking sounds. "Better?" She inquired after a few seconds.

"Much. Thanks."

"I welcome you, there are few problems that Tamaranean acupressure will not solve."

"Now we can focus on solving our other problem." Now being able to move he pulled out his communicator and contacted the other Titans. "Titans, any luck finding our jewel thief?"

"We found something worse." Raven answered as her and the others stared up into the sky filled with hundreds of moths.

Raven, Cyborg, and Beastboy were able to hold off the first hundred moths that attacked the bridge, but just as they were about to celebrate their victory, the sky was blanketed with hundreds more. "Uhh…We're going to need backup." Cyborg relayed into his communicator on his arm.

"We're on our way." Robin replied. However, as he and Starfire were about to leave the room, the big screen that had showed Cyborg's communication switched over to that of Killer Moth.

"Don't bother! Even if you defeat a few of my children, you won't be able to stop me from releasing the entire swarm." In the background they could see the many moths, buzzing around in their tanks. "Unless you want your city reduced to a moth eaten wasteland, you'll do exactly as I say."

"What do you want?" Robin asked angrily.

"My demands are simple; the city will declare me ruler, the Teen Titans will surrender, and Robin… will take this lovely young lady to her junior prom." A little window appeared next to Killer Moth showing a blonde haired girl.

"Hi Robbie-pooh!" she loudly cooed.

Robin was dumbstruck. "Umm, what was that last part again?"

"Robin, who is this girl and why does she call you pooh?" Starfire inquired as Robin twitched.

"Her name is Kitten and you will take her to prom."

"This Prom is some manner of duel, yes? Robin eagerly accepts." Starfire said floating up closer to the screen.

"It's not a duel Star, it's a date." Robin interrupted.

Starfire looked like she had just been slapped. "He does not accept. Do you hear, Robin does not accept." Robin grabbed the still floating Starfire by the leg and started pulling her with him as he left the room.

"We're going to need a minute." Once out in the hall, Starfire started pacing back and forth ranting as Robin pulled out his communicator and contacted Cyborg. "Cyborg, report. How is it?"

"Bad, we can't hold them off much longer. If you're going to do something, do it quick." Cyborg replied as he was trying to hold back a moth that was eagerly trying to take a bite out of him.

"I have to do it." Robin said, interrupting Starfire's rant.

"WHAT!" Starfire screamed.

"It's the only way to save the bridge, the only way to give us enough time to stop Killer Moth." Robin headed back to the main room with Starfire floating dejectedly right behind him.

"But but but but..."

"I have to Starfire, no matter how much I don't want to." The doors to the main room opened and still on the screen was Killer Moth and Kitten. "And I really don't want to."

"Do we have a deal?" Killer Moth asked.

"I'll take the girl to prom." Robin replied, his left eye twitching.

"Don't tell me, ask her." The bug man said as motioned to the window with the blonde.

"You've gotta be…"

"Do it!"

"Kitten, was it?" Robin asked through clenched teeth.

"Meowww" Kitten said doing an impression of a cat.

"Right… Will you go with me to the prom?" Starfire, who was standing not too far from Robin, had her glowing green hands balled up in fists and they were getting brighter each second.

"Ohhh Robbie-pooh, I thought you'd never ask." Kitten squealed in delight.

* * *

Beastboy, in his gorilla form, was fending off as many moths as he could while a few chewed through a cable that was near him. The cable snapped and was falling towards Cyborg, who in turn was surrounded by twenty to thirty moths. Raven, seeing the large cable falling towards her comrade, summoned her power. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The cable was stopped by her black aura only a few feet above him, waving a hand she moved it away from him.

The mutant moths that had been encircling Cyborg started closing in on him. "There's too many, were not gonna make it." As he started to fire his sonic cannon at them, all of a sudden all the moths in the area retreated.

Beastboy transformed back into his human form. "Um, what just happened?"

Raven turned her communicator on. "I bought you some time. Killer Moth, he's controlling the mutant insects, find him and stop him." Robin said as a picture of the guy flashed onto the screen followed by a picture of a blonde haired girl. "Start your search with her."

"Who is she?" Raven asked.

"She is a manipulative grimflork not worthy of Robin's time." Starfire interjected angrily.

"Name's Kitten, she's got some kind of connection to Killer Moth, find the connection and I bet you'll find him. Starfire will join you to help with the search. Starfire crossed her arms and huffed.

"Hey, what about you, aren't you gonna help us?" Beastboy asked picking up on Robin's lack of involvement.

"I can't, I've got a date..."

* * *

Danny stretched. He was still tired from the earlier battle with the guitar playing idiot, but he still felt up to going to the prom. When he went home and changed into his tuxedo, and then made his way over to the ship where the dance was taking place, he had heard the battle taking place on the bridge between the Teen Titans and a bunch of insects. However, a few moments after the sounds of battle ended, he surprisingly heard very loud laughter and he must have been close to four miles from the bridge.

While he didn't have a date to the prom, he came anyways in hopes that he could ask one of the girls, who also came alone, to dance with him. That and he could always talk to his friends. He was now standing at the entrance to the ship, talking to his friends Matt and Ben, when he saw a rather familiar motor cycle stop at the pier. "Isn't that Robin's bike?"

"That can't be Robin's bike, why would he come to… prom?" as Ben was talking the rider pulled off his helmet, revealing Robin wearing a tuxedo and judging by his movements, Danny could tell he was not happy to be there.

Starfire then landed next to him, wearing a lovely dress. At this point Danny noticed that his friends were once again drooling at the sight of her. Then, if that wasn't enough, he saw something that made him visibly shudder in disgust. It was that horrific pink limo that belonged to a certain "popular" rich girl that utterly disgusted him to no end.

"Yoohoo, Robbie-pooh, your Kitten has arrived. Meowww…" Judging by the looks of horror on both Robin and Starfire's faces when she yelled that, they weren't too happy to see her either. Robin approached her reluctantly and she continued her loud exclamations, getting everybody's attention. "Oh, Robin, my date, Robin, don't you look handsome." Then she growled to him in a lower voice. "Compliment me on my dress."

"No."

"Do it or else."

"Nice dress."

Then Kitten continued her yelling. "Oh Robin you're such a gentleman, not at all like my worthless ex-boyfriend, Fang!" At this point Danny, who was only ten feet away from them, thought she could have woken the dead with her yelling. It certainly made him forget how tired he was. Then she spoke to Robin again in a low, sinisterly sweet voice. "Now take my arm, lead me in and would it kill you to smile?"

Danny thought he heard the creaking of bones as Robin's face contorted in pain to force a smile. "Maybe." He replied before escorting her onto the ship. Starfire glided forward, her eyes glowing a menacing green. Grinding her teeth so hard it sounded like a power saw cutting through steel, Danny wondered at what she would do. She then proceeded to punch the front of the limo Kitten had arrived in causing the back end to fly up before coming back down to earth, completely dented.

Danny, Ben, and Matt, from their position next to the back of the limo, were taken by surprise. "Hey Ben, you can try asking her to dance, I don't want to anymore." Matt said not looking away from the now destroyed limo.

"Me neither." was Ben's only reply.

* * *

The cruise on the ship was uneventful for Danny but he was having a good time watching the interaction between Robin and Kitten. At the moment she was trying to force him to dance with her and it made him wonder. _Why the heck is Robin here anyways and with that "girl" no less? Judging by that display earlier, Starfire isn't too happy about Robin being with Kitten._

Kitten had finally managed to coerce Robin into dancing with her and she lead him out onto the dance floor, knocking everybody out of her way as she went. Yawning, Danny decided that he needed something to drink to help keep him awake and started to head to the punch bowl. Yet before he went too far, he stopped at what he saw.

Starfire looked like she had been in the process of getting some punch when she spotted Robin and Kitten going out to the dance floor and starting to dance. Her eyes were glowing green and the hand that was holding the ladle was glowing red while the punch started bubbling like a witch's brew. One couple made the mistake of asking for punch and received a death glare from Starfire, who quite literally looked like she was going to bite their heads off.

Danny turned back to the "loving couple" just in time to spot Robin leaning over the girl's shoulder with his communicator out, pleading with the people on the other end. Then all of a sudden he looked relieved and pushed Kitten away as she tried to kiss him. Smiling, he told her a few things. "What!" Kitten screeched, getting everybody's attention. Continuing, she yelled about how her father was not in control and revealed a little triggering device in her hand. She then demanded him to pucker up as she tried to kiss him.

Robin stopped her before she got too close. "Not even if you paid me." He then proceeded to grab the trigger out of her hand and soon enough, a fight started over it.

"Fang!" Kitten cried when a guy with a spider for head appeared on the ship.

"He's your boyfriend?" Robin said in disbelief. While he was distracted, Kitten took the trigger back.

"Get your hands off my girl." Fang barged through some tables and in the ensuing chaos Danny ducked under a table. Turning invisible and going ghost he flew up into the sky. Still invisible, he activated his intangibility as he watched the proceedings. While he watched, he saw Robin getting knocked away from Kitten by one of Fang's four huge spider legs.

Fang approached Kitten but was soon hit by a starbolt, courtesy of Starfire. "Keep your legs off my boy! Robin, are you okay?"

"Best I've felt all day." Robin then pulled off his tuxedo revealing his uniform underneath while Starfire did the same. Danny and the two Titans turned to see Kitten kissing Fang. Robin then voiced the exact thought that was going through Danny's head. "You two make a really bad couple."

Fang went on the attack against Robin, shooting a flurry of webs and venom, he paralyzed a couple who had been stupid enough to stick around. While Robin fought Fang, Starfire and Kitten started fighting over the trigger, throwing each other across the banquet table.

Danny, floating above the battle, was having an internal struggle over whether or not he should assist them in their battle. Then he noticed that Robin could use some help, and Starfire was too busy handling Kitten. Danny shot two ecto-blasts that hit Fang, knocking him away from Robin. This brief reprieve gave him enough time to counterattack and with a flurry of punches, he finally knocked Fang out.

"You ruined my dress!" Danny turned to see Kitten, now covered in a chocolate cake, pressing a trigger. She then charged at Starfire, who in turn merely sidestepped her and shot the trigger out of her hand with a starbolt. It rolled over to Robin who stopped it with his foot.

"Consider yourself dumped." He then pressed his foot down, crushing the trigger.

"NOOOO!..."

* * *

The cruise ship had finally made it back to land and the police took Fang and an angry, howling Kitten. "Nobody dumps Kitten, Nobody! You're going to pay for this Robbie-pooh, you're going to pay!..." Her ranting was finally cut off when she was locked up in the back of a police transport.

Danny found Ben, sitting at a table looking real happy. "What's got you so happy, Kitten give you her number?"

"Heck no, I just find it funny."

"Find what funny?"

"That my ex was caught in that guy's venom and is now completely paralyzed along with her new boyfriend." Danny looked over to where the couple was being carried off by paramedics while Robin was apologizing to them.

"Don't you think that's a little, I don't know, cruel?"

"You don't know Kelly."

"Well, anyway, where's Matt? Is he off trying to ask Starfire out?" Danny asked looking around.

"No, he went home saying something about being tired, or was it Doom? I keep forgetting which." Ben replied as he stood up stretching. "I gotta go anyways, I'm tired and my mom's probably worrying about me."

"Later man."

"Later." As Ben left, Danny started staring out into the harbor, lost in thought about what had occurred that day. His thoughts were quickly interrupted however by an argument between Cyborg and Beastboy."

"You're not keeping that thing in my tower!"

"Aww… C'mon Cyborg, he's cute and he's harmless." Danny turned to see Beastboy holding a very large grub, cradling it like it was a baby. Danny then noticed Raven standing about ten feet away watching the argument and decided to go over and talk to her.

* * *

Raven watched as Cyborg and Beastboy argued over whether or not he could keep the little Grub that was formally a mutated moth. _That little creature is not staying with us if I have anything to say about it._

"Hello, your name was Raven wasn't it?" Raven turned around and was startled by the owner of the voice that had spoken to her.

"Yeah, and your name was Danny, correct?" Raven replied hiding her surprise from the guy that now stood before her.

"I just wanted to thank you for healing me and my friends earlier." At Danny's words Raven felt a sense of guilt for having tried to read his mind earlier.

"It was no problem, just a basic healing spell." As Raven spoke a song had started playing and not too far away, Starfire and Robin started to dance.

"Umm, would you like to dance?" When he asked her that he not only caught her off guard, but if anyone had been paying attention they would have seen one of the many lights that decorated the boat had been consumed by a black aura and blew up.

Raven's mind was working hard in double time, trying to keep her emotions controlled while she came up with an answer to his question. The answer that she finally gave, neither of them had expected.

"Yes, I would like to."

* * *

When Danny had asked her to dance, right after the asking he thought he was going to have a mental break down. _Why did I just ask her that? She doesn't want to dance with me and she probably doesn't even like to dance._

"Yes, I would like to." Danny was nearly floored by her response, but he still manage to compose himself and took her hand, leading her out onto the dance floor. On the other hand, his mind at the moment was still having trouble comprehending what was going on. Meanwhile, his body went on autopilot as he went through the motions of a dance he memorized a few years ago. They started to dance not too far from Robin and Starfire, who in turn were oblivious to everything around them.

After a minute or two of dancing, they started getting used to it. _Hey this isn't too bad._ They thought unknowingly at the same time. Danny could again see her face, even with her hood up. It was as if the darkness that usually hid her was gone. As they continued to dance their eyes were locked onto each others', amethyst gazing into blue and blue gazing into amethyst.

Now separated from the rest of the world, they didn't notice Beastboy and Cyborg who had paused in their arguing, gawking at them. "BB, did you know that Raven danced?"

Beastboy's only reply was shaking his head no.

When the song finally ended, Raven and Danny hesitantly separated. "You're a good dancer." Danny said trying to keep his embarrassment from showing.

"You're a good dancer too." Raven replied, also trying to keep from blushing.

"Thanks again for the healing from before and the dance, I should be getting home. I've got work tomorrow, and I suppose I'll see you the next time you'll come into Cyber-café. Bye."

"Bye." Hearing her reply, Danny turned and left.

* * *

As Danny left the dance floor, Raven was still trying to figure out everything that had just happened. She then noticed Cyborg and Beastboy standing right behind her, smiling. They both opened their mouths to say something, but Raven beat them to the punch. "If either of you say a word, I will personally force feed you both that worm you have both been arguing about." Both guys quickly paled and closed their mouths, their grinning faces turning into looks of horror. "I'll see you guys later, I'm going on back to the tower." _To have a chat with my emotions and meditate on what just happened._ Raven let out a sigh and flew back to the tower as fast as she could.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

That night and the following morning, Danny was lost in thought over his actions at and before the prom. His thoughts kept turning to Raven, the dark sorceress who he had danced with and caused within his heart feelings close to happiness. Yet when his feelings started to swell with joy, a twinge of guilt would show its ugly face. Considering that he may be developing a crush on her, that would probably explain the happiness in his heart. But the guilt, well... _I don't deserve love. I already failed the ones I held dear once and I'm not going to make that same mistake again. That's why I'm not a hero... oh crap._ Realization hit Danny his memory of more recent events kicked in and he quickly finished his breakfast and headed for the door. _I hope they haven't put me in the newspaper yet._

Rushing over to the school, he found the football coach and the Principal supervising the repairs being made to the school. After much discussion and a good deal of convincing, he finally got them to not make a big thing out of him saving his friends the other day. Both the coach and principal were very perplexed by his reluctance of fame, but they didn't push the issue any further. Danny was just glad that they listened.

* * *

The previous night, Raven had attempted to get answers from her emotions over what had happened at the prom, but they were all being stubborn. Even Knowledge, her most trusted emotion, only told her that she would have to wait until the future presented itself. Happiness was the only one to say anything significant and yet that was only that she couldn't wait to see Danny again. So, after a failed attempt at meditating, she tried to get some sleep. Yet even then, it was only after an hour of tossing and turning, she fell into an uneasy slumber.

On this particular morning, she woke up an hour later than usual. This only contributed to her developing bad mood from the night of her failed discussion with her emotions. She walked into the kitchen to find the rest of the Titans sitting at the table talking. Upon noticing her entrance they all fell silent and turned to look at her, smiling.

Starfire floated over to Raven and pulled her into one of her famous bone crushing hugs. "Oh joyous day friend Raven, you found yourself a friend of the boy."

"Wh..at?..." Was all Raven could get out as she tried to gasp for air.

Releasing Raven from her mighty death hug, Starfire beamed with excitement. "You and friend Danny are doing the dating."

"Star.. fire where... did you.. get that idea.. from?" Raven asked as she tried to catch her breath.

"Oh, Beastboy and Cyborg, who saw the two of you dancing, were explaining the details to me and Robin."

Trying to keep a straight face, Robin asked, "So Raven, are you going to tell us about your boyfriend and if he'll be hanging out here at the tower?"

After giving a death glare to Beastboy and Cyborg, Raven turned away and frowned at Robin. After a moment, her frown turned into a smile as a thought occurred to her. "What about you and Starfire? Have you two started dating yet?" Robin flushed and suddenly found an interesting spot on the table to study while he mumbled incoherent words. Starfire looked at the floor, feeling a little hurt until Raven started whispering to her. "Just because I danced with a guy once, doesn't mean I'm going out with him. And don't worry so much, Robin likes you, he just has trouble expressing it." Starfire's cheerfulness returned at her words and nodded to show her understanding.

Raven turned back to the table to find a missing Beastboy and Cyborg. _They are going on a trip to __another dimension the next time they show their faces._

2323-

After his tiring conversation with his Principal and the coach, Danny went to work. While sitting behind the register lost in thought, his friend Ben approached him grinning from ear to ear.

"Danny... you hypocrite." Ben said, his grin never faltering.

"What?"

"I saw you and Raven dancing."

"I thought that you had left."

"I went back on the ship to get my coat that I had left behind. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but what were you saying about me and Matt trying to get a date out of our league?" Danny's face flushed in embarrassment as he tried to come up with an answer.

"All I did was dance with her, I'm not trying to go out with her."

"Sure, and that's why you couldn't keep your eyes off her." If Danny's face could get any redder, it would have exploded.

"So I'm guessing that you already told Matt?"

Ben shook his head, frowning. "I tried to get a hold of the idiot earlier, but he wasn't answering his phone and I tried to find him online but he wasn't there either. The funny thing is, I can never get a hold of him and he says that he's always online, but his character has been the same level for a long time."

"He's probably started a new account online."

"Maybe, but I've noticed lately that he's been acting stranger than usual. For example, last night when the spider guy attacked, Matt said that he was heading home right after the cruise. For some reason he seemed really excited as he ran off. I couldn't find him after that."

"Well at least I don't have to hear about the dance from him today. By the way, I managed to convince the principal and coach to not make a big deal over me saving you two from that 80's European reject the other day." Danny told his friend, looking relieved.

"It still made it into today's newspaper." Ben pulled out a newspaper and handed it to him.

Danny studied the article; 'Boy Saves Friends While School Is Attacked' and was about to hand it back when he noticed the date at the top and froze in shock. _I can't believe it is only two days from that day._

"Danny, are you okay?" Ben asked, looking concerned for his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Isn't this week our spring break?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Monday and Tuesday I'm planning on taking a trip back to my home town." Before Ben could ask more on the subject, Cyborg and Beastboy walked in grinning from ear to ear. Looking over, Danny greeted them. "Hey guys, why didn't you call before you came? Right now we've got... Why are you guys grinning like that?"

"You were the one dancing with Raven last night. Did you think we were going to forget that?" Cyborg said, his grin turning slightly evil.

"I kinda hoped that you would." Danny replied, his shoulders slumping.

"No such luck Danny." Beastboy said in a sing song voice before laughing out loud.

"Now... down to business. Since me and Beastboy here have the roles of being brothers to our little Raven... By the way, I'm the older overprotective one while he is the younger annoying brother."

Beastboy huffed. "I'm so not annoying."

Looking down at him, Cyborg responded, "Yes you are. Anyways, I'm going to warn you that since you're dating our little Raven..."

"Wait. I'm not dating Raven, all we did was dance."

"Okay, when you start dating her, you better not hurt her, I may be a hero, but that still won't stop me from kicking your butt if you ever..." Cyborg trailed off as he heard a collective squeal coming from a neighboring room. Danny now was the one with an evil smile on his face, and he pulled it off a lot better.

"As I was trying to tell you earlier, you should have called because your fan club was coming here today." Cyborg rapidly turned white as he grabbed Beastboy and ran out of the café, closely followed by many fangirls.

"You my friend, are very evil." Ben said trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, but they did get what they deserved."

* * *

That evening, after they returned from their run only to deal with the wrath of an irate Raven, Beastboy and Cyborg finally stopped talking about her dance with Danny. Relieved, Raven sat on the roof meditating, chanting her mantra as the sun went down and trying to get her powers under control after the day that she had.

As for the other titans, they were nearby playing volleyball, with Beastboy and Robin playing against Starfire and Cyborg. The game was going rather smoothly until Beastboy got a little carried away. Taking the form of an ape he spiked the ball, accidentally hitting it straight for Raven. "Raven heads up!"

The ball was engulfed in black energy and stopped mere inches from Raven's head. With a slight push of her mind, she sent it straight back to Beastboy, slamming it into his stomach, making him fall flat on his back. "Are you sure you don't want to play Raven?" asked a wide eyed Robin.

"Yes, please, you must volley the ball with us." Starfire said enthusiastically, jumping up and down.

"Come on, I'll play you with one hand behind my back." Cyborg said as he pulled off one of his arms and waving it in the air before reattaching it.

"I can't, I have to meditate." Raven replied as she tried to calm her emotions.

The rest of the Titans shrugged and went back to their game. But once again Beastboy screwed up by going ape to serve the ball and just as before, the ball headed straight towards Raven. "Heads up again!" This time, Raven floated out of the way and as expected, the volley ball went over the side of the tower, plummeting down to the ocean below. "I'll get it." Beastboy said heading for the edge of the roof. Yet before he got too far, the volley ball landed right in front of him, soon followed by a blonde haired girl. She wore yellow shorts, a black t-shirt with a yellow T on it and stood on top of a floating boulder. "Terra?" Beastboy asked, not believing his eyes.

Terra simply smiled. "So, which team am I on?"

* * *

Danny walked into his apartment spotting an expected visitor sitting comfortably at his kitchen table, drinking a cup of tea. "Good evening Daniel, I hope you didn't mind me drinking some of your tea. I saw that you had a new flavor and thought of trying it."

"Oh, that. I picked it up the other week when I was at my favorite bookstore." Danny said as he poured himself a cup. "I'm guessing you heard about me rescuing my friends from that attack at my school yesterday."

"Yes, and I suppose you're also the one who stopped the attacker since the Titans claimed that they did not."

"Yeah, I stopped him." Danny said turning to stare out of his window, watching the setting sun.

"So you really are going back to being a hero."

"I don't know. Every time that I see somebody hurting others I want to stop them, but I also don't want to end up hurting the people around me again." Danny fought back tears as memories of his former life with friends and family flew through his mind.

"Well if you're not going to be a hero again, at least you're dating one." It took Danny a second before he realized what Vlad had said.

"What?" He turned to find Vlad casually reading a tabloid with a picture of him and Raven dancing on the front with Robin and Starfire dancing in the background. The only redeeming feature was the fact that the heading mentioned the Titan coupling with an unknown.

"It says right here that you and the Raven of the Teen Titans are going out, and judging by the picture it does look like it." Danny turned a little red.

"I'm not going out with her, we just danced. Anyways, I thought you were smart enough not to believe in the tabloids." Vlad just laughed and put the tabloid down.

"Daniel, I came here today to propose an offer I made to you a long time ago. However, this time it will be a little different than from back then. If you want, I am willing to teach you a little more about your powers and you may use them as you wish. I will not try to force you to do anything you don't want to do."

Danny thought for a moment before smiling. "Yeah, I guess I could use the training." _And besides, it is a good way to get my mind off the previous day's events._

"Good, now I have a place in mind where we can train..." A tremor went through the room, similar to an earthquake. With everything shaking for a brief second, it caught both Danny and Vlad by surprise. "Oh butter biscuit!" Vlad yelled as he spilt hot tea on his hand.

* * *

That night was once again hard for Raven to fall asleep and meditate. This time it was Terra's arrival that had her mind working very hard and a few of her emotions going crazy. She was glad that they had another teammate, yet she still couldn't shake a strange feeling of dark foreboding.

Terra had helped save the tower that night from Slade's giant drills and that action had gained a little of Raven's trust. However, Raven couldn't help but find it suspicious that right after her arrival, Slade would choose then to attack. Maybe it was a coincidence, but her instincts were telling her otherwise.

Yet on the other hand, the rest of the Titans were really trusting of Terra, with Beastboy following her like some lovesick puppy. _I hope the others know what they're doing. I don't want my feelings to be right._ After that thought Raven finally fell into a restless sleep.

_Robin said, everybody deserves second chances..._

* * *

The next morning Danny went off to work, feeling exhausted from the previous night of training. He had been very skeptical at first about getting training from Vlad, but he did learn how to control his powers a little bit better and was happier for that.

At work, Danny's coworkers had talked about how the Titans fought a giant drilling machine and speculated on the identity of the new blonde haired girl who helped them in their battle. When he and Vlad had felt the tremor, they had just assumed it was one of the earthquakes California was famous for, not a giant drilling machine.

Not long after the finished the tale of the Titan's fight last night, Danny got a phone call from Robin about their soon arrival. _Maybe I'll get to see Raven today._ Thoughts of dancing with the dark titan filled his head. He remembered how her amethyst eyes shined and the pretty face she always kept hidden under her hood.

"Danny? ... Danny?" Danny exited his inner thoughts to find the actual Raven standing right in front of him, causing him to nearly jump. "I thought you had fallen asleep."

"Oh sorry, I was just kinda lost in thought." Danny said sheepishly. "It is good to see you again Raven." Danny looked around for a second. "Where's the rest of titans?"

"They're outside introducing our new teammate, Terra, to a couple of our fans outside." Raven said as she drunk some recently purchased tea.

"So Terra's the girl who helped you guys with the giant drill yesterday?"

"Yes, she helped us stop the drills from putting our tower underground." The rest of the titans walked in. Terra walked in between Starfire and Beastboy, who were happily talking her ears off, followed by Robin and Cyborg.

Cyborg approached Danny and Raven while the rest went on to browse. "Hey Danny, you ask our little Raven out yet?" The glares he received from both of them caused him to change subjects quickly. "So uh... Danny did you get my order in yet?"

Lightening the glare, Danny thought for a moment. "I think so, let me check." Danny shifted through some of the orders and pulled out a small box. " Here you go, the rare limited edition card you ordered."

Cyborg took the card gleefully and stowed it in a compartment in his leg. Raven and Danny just shrugged at Cyborg's actions. "Danny, are you on spring break for school yet?" Raven's question caught Danny by surprise and it took him a second to answer.

"Yeah, it starts tomorrow. Tonight I'll be leaving Jump for two days."

"What, you going to go partying Danny?" Cyborg asked excitedly.

"No, I'm going back to my old home town." Danny replied solemnly. Raven was hit hard by the extremely sad emotion coming off of Danny, similar to if he started yelling at her. The somber mood that had suddenly fallen between the three teens was immediately interrupted by Beastboy and Starfire bounding forward, pulling a dazed Terra between them quickly followed by Robin, trying to stay the serious leader.

"Hey Danny meet Terra, our newest member. Terra meet Danny, one of the coolest guys in this joint." Beastboy said excitedly.

Terra gathered her bearings and when she focused on Danny she looked surprised, yet it was quickly replaced by a smile. For some reason, her smile sent a shiver down his spine. There was something about her that was giving him a bad feeling, but he didn't know why. After a moment's hesitation, he returned the smile. "It's good to meet you Terra and if you don't mind, may I ask you what your powers are?"

"My power is manipulation of rock and earth, like a geomancer." Terra pulled out a rock, surrounding it with her yellow aura, causing it and her hands and eyes to glow. The rock floated around the air for a moment and then, with a pulse of her power, she caused it to break into many pebbles, doing tricks in the air with them. Danny and the rest of her audience just watched in awe until she reformed it back into a rock. Clapping their hands, everybody but Raven applauded at her show. Smiling shyly, Terra looked around for a second before whispering to Danny. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Down that hall over there by the magazines and on the right, you can't miss it." Danny replied pointing towards said magazine racks.

"Thanks."

* * *

Once in the bathroom, Terra made sure it was completely void of occupants before sealing the door shut with the same rock she had used to do the tricks from before. Pulling out her cell phone she quickly dialed a number she memorized by heart and after a few rings she heard a metallic voice speak. "Identify yourself."

"Terra, rank Apprentice."

"Confirming Identification... Identification confirmed, hello Terra."

The metallic voice was soon replaced by a dark smooth voice "Apprentice, what information do you have for me?"

"I have found him sir, I believe I have found the white haired boy. All his physical stats match. Only the coloring is off."

"Do the Titans know of him?"

"No, I do not believe so. The titans only know of him as a normal teenager. As far as I'm aware, they know nothing of his powers but he is... friends with them."

"Good work my apprentice, now continue on with your mission."

"Yes Master..."

* * *

That night, Danny had packed a small gym bag with a change of clothes, some snacks and a few other assorted items. He made sure his apartment was completely secure before going into his ghost form and phasing through the ceiling. Staring out across the city towards the bay for a second, he heaved a sigh before turning invisible and started his flight over the city and to the north. Once above a rural area outside the city he became visible again to conserve energy.

Thinking back on it, he almost never returned to Amity Park. The only time he returned was on the anniversary of the death of his family and friends in order to pay his respects. He flew the whole night with his mind weighed down with many thoughts and different emotions.

As the sun dawned on the new day he saw the sign for Amity Park pass below him. Slowing down, he thought to himself. _I must be getting faster because Im quite sure last year it took me till noon to get here._

His first stop was his old home to check on its condition. Looking around, he found the place to be in the same condition it was the year before, but obviously with a little more dust.

Amity Park was usually a very bustling place all year long. The only time it was relatively peaceful was on the anniversary of Nasty Burger explosion. On that date, most people would usually stay at home or go and pay their respects at the victims of the explosion's graves. Did I mention _only_ most people?

"Geek! Get back here!" As Danny walked towards the graveyard, a short skinny kid wearing glasses ran past him at full speed followed shortly after by Dash and his usual gang of football players. Dash slammed right into Danny as he tried to push him out of the way only to bounce off and fall back on his butt. Dash looked up at Danny, angry at his embarrassing state, but smiled when he realized just who it was he ran into. "Fenturd, it's been a long time. It's a good thing you returned just in time for me to humiliate you." As Dash spoke and got off the ground, both of the football players behind him cracked their knuckles.

"Dash, would you just leave me in peace?" Danny replied, bored that he had to deal yet again with this idiot after so long.

Dash just laughed and grabbed Danny by the shirt. Pulling him up to his face he growled, "Are you gonna make me Fentina? You look just as weak now as you did two years ago." Dash threw a punch at Danny's face, but what happened next was something his puny mind never expected.

Danny pulled free from his grip, ducked, punched him square in the gut, grabbed his still extended fist, and then threw him over his back. These fluid motions took Danny only a few seconds and as he turned back to Dash's thugs, he almost grinned at the look of amazement on their faces. "Now, are you both going to leave me in peace, or shall I continue?" Both thugs quickly nodded their heads in fear, still trying to come up with something to say. "Good. Then you might want to help Dash up off the ground." Danny turned and left as they did what he suggested. Dash merely leaned on their shoulders, groaning.

Danny wasn't happy that he beat up Dash, it may have felt satisfying for a moment, yet even after all the years he had put up with his bullying he still felt bad about it. Two years ago he would have been happy to beat up Dash, but to do it on this day of all days, he wasn't happy with what happened at all.

* * *

Standing at his family's graves, he placed a flower on his sister's headstone. "Jazz, it's been a year since I was last here..." Danny wiped at some of the tears that were forming in his eyes. "I miss you very much and could really use your help right now... Though if I'm right, you probably have your hands full, helping some depressed angels sort through their problems..."

Moving on to his parent's graves, he placed a flower on each. "Mom, Dad, I miss you guys very much and there isn't a day that goes by that I regret not telling you my secret..." Tears were now streaming down his face. Danny didn't bother to wipe them away. "It's my fault that you all are dead, I failed to keep my promise. Maybe if I hadn't kept my secret from you two in the first place, then this wouldn't have happened." Danny let himself breakdown for a minute and when he finally gathered himself, he moved on to the next grave.

At Tucker's grave he placed yet another flower on the headstone. "Hey Tucker, I miss you man. You were my best friend for a long time... Now I hate to make you jealous, but some of my friends now are actual super heroes. One of them is a beautiful alien that you would probably drool over if you were still here... I hope the angels don't beat you up to much when you use those lousy pickup lines of yours."

Danny finally placed a black flower on Sam's grave. "Sam, I miss you very much... I guess I'm not as 'clueless' as I used to be and now I realize that I had liked you as more than a friend. It is too bad that I now regret not realizing this sooner. Right now I'm thinking that I might be falling for another girl, one that I am sure that you would highly approve of. She is the Dark Titan, Raven, and she has about the same style as you do... I hope the angels aren't getting on your nerves and that you're allowed to wear black instead of white. I know you won't consider it heaven unless you are able to express your individuality."

Danny cast one final glance at all of their graves before finally whispering. "I should go now, no matter how much it hurts. Don't worry too much about me, I'll visit you guys next year." He then looked around for a second, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, before going into his ghost form and flying away.


	7. Chapter 7

The Tournament of What?

Danny was flying along in the sky back towards Jump City. He was again lost in thought over the visit he made to his family and friend's graves. While the trip rekindled old sorrows, he was still happier than he had been because he was able get a lot of things off his chest.

However, his thoughts were soon interrupted by a flash of light encompassing him.

The Titans were all playing cards in the main room, minus Terra who was off picking up their lunch. The game soon came to an end with Robin as the _'Victor'. _"Sorry Star, I guess I'm just invincible." Robin said as he was about to gather the pile of cards.

"Ah ah ah, how can you be invincible if I've still got one card?" Cyborg said in a mocking tone as he flashed a card at Robin. "Come on Robin, you know you wanna play me for it. One last round, winner take all."

"You're on Cyborg and you're going down." Robin picked up the cards he had left to play and began studying them while at times looking at the one card in Cyborg's hand. At last he finally decided to play his best card. "Tornado! Beat that!"

"Well okay. Booyeaah!" Cyborg stood up and slammed the card down on the table.

"Meteor!" Robin exclaimed in anger and surprise.

"The one in a million wild card that beats all others, it's too beautiful for words." Beastboy added goggling at the card displayed in front of him.

"Oh yeah baby, who's invincible now?" Cyborg yelled doing a victory dance.

"Be proud and cheerful Robin, you competed well." Starfire said, trying to calm Robin down.

"Winning isn't everything." Raven added.

Robin finally calmed down a little. "Yeah, it's just the only thing that matters. I want a rematch!"

"Um, I don't know how to tell you this man, but you're out of cards."

"Beastboy, give me your cards." Yet before Beastboy could comply with his demand, there was a flash of light and all three guys were gone.

"This... is part of the game?" Starfire asked looking at Raven who just shrugged in return.

When the light cleared for Danny he found himself standing next to Robin, Beastboy, and Cyborg causing him to nearly jump in shock. Looking down quickly he let out a sigh of relief that he was still in ghost mode. Yet before he could do anything else he heard a loud booming voice speak. "WELCOME CHAMPIONS ALL! I AM THE MASTER OF GAMES AND YOU ARE HEREBY INVITED TO COMPETE IN THE TOURNAMENT OF HEROES."

The voice belonged to what Danny could only describe as being the likely missing link between humans and their closest genetic relation. The creature was an ape-like humanoid covered in white fur with red eyes and elfish ears similar to Beastboy's. The only things he wore were golden bracers, a large red gem around his neck, and a conservative loincloth. "THE TOURNAMENT OF HEROES, FRIENDLY COMPETITION BETWEEN THE WORLD'S GREATEST YOUNG CHAMPIONS."

Danny took the chance to look around and noticed that the titans and he were not alone. Before he could get a good look at all the other guys there, Robin was surrounded by light.

"ROBIN, THE COMBAT EQUIPPED KUNG FU TRAINED ONE MAN ARMY..." And in turn, the others in the room also got surrounded by the light while the Master Of Games introduced everyone.

"HOTSPOT, A HUMAN FLAMETHROWER WITH A FIERY TEMPER TO MATCH..."

"CYBORG, THE HIGH-TECH TEEN FIGHTING MACHINE..."

"AQUALAD, A WATER-BREATHING TELEPATH WITH A MASTERY OVER SURF AND SEAS.."

"WILDERBEEST, 400 POUNDS OF PRIMAL HEROIC FURY..."

"GIZMO, THE NASTY LITTLE BOY WITH A REALLY BIG BRAIN..."

"BEASTBOY, A QUICK LITTLE CHANGELING WHO CAN TURN INTO ANY ANIMAL..."

"SPEEDY, THE AGILE ARCHER WITH AN UNSTOPPABLE ARSENAL OF UNLIMITED ENERGY ARROWS..."

"KID FLASH, THE FASTEST TEENAGER ON EARTH..."

Following the pattern, Danny saw that he was going to be the last one introduced and wondered just how much the M.O.G. knew about him and his abilities.

"AND SHADE, FROM THE SHADOWS, SAVING PEOPLE WITH HIS MYSTERIOUS POWERS..." Even with the light fading around Danny, all the other heroes and Gizmo continued looking at him curiously. _Reeeaal smooth M.O.G., it wasn't just blatantly obvious that you really have no clue what my powers are._ At the very least I now _know that I've somehow avoided whatever he_ used to spy on us_._ Danny smiled at that thought before turning his attention back to the M.O.G. who was hesitantly approached by Beastboy.

"Um... so does the winner get some really cool prize, like, maybe I dunno... a moped?" Beastboy asked hopefully.

"I HAVE NO MOPED CHANGELING, BUT REST ASSURED WHEN THE TOURNAMENT IS COMPLETE THERE WILL BE MAGNIFICENT PRIZES." The M.O.G. replied mysteriously. "OF COURSE THE WINNER OF THE TOURNAMENT SHALL PROVE THAT HE IS THE GREATEST HERO ON EARTH. HOWEVER, ANY WHO DO NOT WISH TO COMPETE MAY ONLY SAY THE WORD." The gem around his neck glowed ominously. "AND I SHALL RETURN YOU HOME AT ONCE."

After the M.O.G. finished speaking, all the heroes except Danny turned and discussed amongst themselves whether they would participate. Danny on the other hand was pondering about what the M.O.G. had said. _Prizes? He didn't say what they were and who would be getting them though it usually assumed that the winner gets the prizes._ _Yet what worries me is that when that gem glowed I felt a strange sense of foreboding. After all the fighting I've done before, I have come to trust that particular instinct of mine. Besides, why did he choose only us when I know for a fact that there are a whole lot more teen heroes in the world._ _Something tells me that we shouldn't trust the M.O.G., after all this whole tournament of "heroes" stinks of a trap._

"Looks like we're all in!" Robin exclaimed snapping Danny out of his thoughts. Hearing this, the young halfa could only wonder if he was the only paranoid one of the group.

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, THE TOURNAMENT BEGINS! PREPARE FOR COMPETITION!" In a blinding flash the M.O.G. was gone and everybody turned to their neighbors and started conversing with each other.

Danny chuckled to himself as Gizmo and Cyborg almost immediately started yelling at each other. Robin and Speedy started talking and comparing them side by side they almost looked exactly alike, except for the hair, the costume and pretty much everything else. Okay so the only thing similar between the two was the little black mask. Yet there was still that sense that they were the same.

As for the lonely ghost boy, Beastboy approached while examining him closely. Danny was thankful that Beastboy wasn't one of the brighter Titans or else there was a chance that his identity would be discovered. He knew Robin was an accomplished detective and Cyborg was... well... just plain smart and if they were involved there was a greater possibility of them figuring out his secret. So overall he was just going to have to be more careful than usual. Thinking back, Danny wondered how it was that nobody back in Amity Park ever figured out his identity.

"What kind of powers do you have Shade? The big dude didn't exactly say..."

"Can't you guess? After all, it is all explained in my name." Danny replied mysteriously, leaving Beastboy very confused.

"Er... What?" Danny chuckled at his reaction, which in turn annoyed him even more. "Aw, come on man just tell me, you already know all of our powers." The ever exuberant Beastboy was now pouting.

"Beastboy, leave him alone." Cyborg said walking over, his confrontation with Gizmo leaving him agitated. "Sorry Shade, this little grass stain can be very annoying most of the time." Beastboy threw him a death glare which as usual was just ignored. "Anyways, as you already know, the name's Cyborg." Cyborg offered him a handshake which he easily took.

"Yeah, introductions were already kind of taken care of."

"So you said your powers have to do with your name hmm..." Cyborg thought for a moment. "Based on my internal dictionary your powers have something to do with colors, more specifically darkness, or from one definition they have to do with spirits and ghosts." Cyborg said, trying to keep from laughing at the ridiculous sounding power definition and failing.

"Well, I can definitely say that my powers don't have anything to do with colors." Danny replied chuckling as he had not thought about his new name in that context when he came up with it.

"So you're saying that your powers have something to do with ghosts and spirits?"

"Yeah, you could say something like that." Danny said trying to stifle a yawn. "Man, I really shouldn't have traveled so far in one night. That M.O.G. has really lousy timing."

"Travel?"

"Yeah, I was heading home after a long trip when I suddenly found myself here. What about you guys?"

Cyborg smiled. "We were just playing a nice friendly game of cards and I _so_ kicked Robin's butt at it!"

Danny laughed when he saw Robin walking over after overhearing what Cyborg said. The displeased look on the boy wonder's face said it all. "You know, after this is over, we are going to have that rematch when we get back."

"That still doesn't mean you're going to win Robin." Turning away, Robin ignored Cyborg's last comment and offered Danny a handshake, which he took.

"It's nice to meet you Shade, I'm Robin the _leader_ of the Teen Titans." Robin said putting emphasis on the word leader.

"Yeah it's nice to meet you too..."

"CHAMPIONS! ROUND ONE, FACE YOUR OPPONENT!" Before anyone could react to this declaration, there was a flash of light and they were all gone.

When the light cleared from his eyes, Danny found himself in a cave with many torches hanging on the walls while across from him stood a guy in a red and yellow suit. "Kid Flash, I guess you're my opponent for the first round. May the best man win."

"Yeah may the best man win." Kid Flash replied sounding highly confident of himself.

Again the M.O.G's voice boomed all around them. "ROUND ONE BEGIN!"

Danny blinked when he found Kid Flash already in front of him and another blink later, he found himself bound by an old looking rope "Man you are fast but... where did the rope come from?"

"I found it over in a corner." Kid Flash replied arrogantly.

Danny sighed and simply let the rope fall right through him, completely catching Kid flash completely off guard. Seeing his opponent in shock, Danny followed with a punch that sent him back a few feet.

Kid Flash quickly stood back up, looking at Danny wide eyed expression on his face. "What... but... how did you just do that?"

"Dude, that's just one of my powers. You know... like everybody else's powers." As Danny spoke his words slowly, realization hit Kid Flash and was now embarrassed by his reaction. Nodding to show his understanding, they continued their fight with Kid Flash going back on the offensive. He sped forward and started a punching combo at Danny who in turn had to dodge as quickly as he could.

Having to concentrate on dodging, Danny was unable to go intangible or even try to fly away. But even with his increased concentration, attacks were _still_ making it through his defenses and with a final blow, Kid Flash finally landed a powerful kick to his abdomen and sent him back a few feet. Following up this hit, Kid Flash ran forward once more with the intent on continuing his onslaught yet before he reached his intended target he ran head first intoa green dome that had suddenly formed around Danny.

Breathing really hard, Danny noted that his exhaustion from his long trip wasn't exactly helping him at the moment. With his quick speed, Kid Flash had been keeping him off balance the entire fight so he was unable to use any of his usual powers as effectively as he would have liked. Thinking things over, Danny finally came up with a way to beat his quick opponent, even if it wasn't a very honorable thing to do in a fight with a hero. _This is going to be tricky, I'm going to have to time this perfectly._

Kid Flash hadn't exactly been waiting patiently outside Danny's shield while he was thinking of a plan and was still beating on it. When the shield finally fell, the speedster saw this as the chance to beat his white haired opponent, and Kid Flash rushed towards him. The moment he was within two feet of Danny he was surprised to find a glowing green fist unleash a blast to his chest at nearly point blank range.

When the smoke cleared Danny found that the concussion from the ecto-blast had knocked Kid Flash unconscious. Before Danny could take a step, the M.O.G's voice echoed through the cave declaring him the winner. Following this statement there was a flash of light and both occupants were gone.

Once Danny opened his eyes he once more found himself back in the room he was in before with Robin, Cyborg, Speedy, and Wilderbeest. _But where are the losers? I know something is not right here and from the given evidence so far it looks to me like a big white ape. _Danny looked around for the M.O.G., waiting for an answer to his internal questions.

"Hey Speedy, alright, you won!" Robin congratulated Speedy with a handshake.

"But Beastboy didn't." Cyborg was worried for his teammate and was now just as suspicious of the M.O.G as Danny was.

The M.O.G soon reappeared back in the room. "CONGRATULATION CHAMPIONS, YOU HAVE SURVIVED ROUND ONE."

"Survived? What do you mean by that? Where are the losers?" Robin asked as everybody looked accusingly at the M.O.G who held up his hands defensively.

"PEACE HEROES. SURVIVED IS MERELY... AN EXPRESSION. BEASTBOY AND THE OTHERS HAVE BEEN RETURNED HOME SAFELY."

Everybody accepted this response except for two, Cyborg and Danny...

"THINK NOT OF THE VANQUISHED MY CHAMPIONS. NOW YOU MUST REST, FOR TOMORROW YOU FACE ROUND TWO!"A flash of light erupted in the room leaving the M.O.G alone in the room who now wore a sinister grin as he continued speaking in a whisper to himself. "Oh what a marvelous game, no matter who is victorious I win all the prizes."

The amulet around his neck glowed while screams and pleas for help could be heard yet the only one who could hear simply ignored them...

When the light cleared for Danny, he found himself in a simple spartan bedroom that contained a dresser, bed and table with a lamp. Connected to the bedroom was a bathroom which, after little thought, he headed to first deciding he needed a shower, which he took while still in his ghost form. "Now that that's done I do need to get some sleep, I'm utterly exhausted."

Slipping into bed, Danny transformed back into his human form and quickly fell to sleep but to his subconscious dismay, his dreams were plagued with nightmares of his friends and family.

Meanwhile out in the halls, Robin and Cyborg were quietly arguing about whether the tournament was a trap or not. Robin who thought Cyborg was just trying to trick him so he could win, like in the card game, went back to his room. Cyborg on the other hand, started walking down the hall grumbling about his leader being paranoid when something caught his eye.

Sneaking in the shadows he headed to the main room where there was a brief flash of light and, like the many other times the light flashed, he was gone.

Deep within his dreams, Danny was running and while he kept trying to go ghost but, the circles of light only appeared at his midsection and disappeared. He didn't know what he was running from, but he felt nearly overwhelmed by the feelings of fear and helplessness. "You..." The sound of a dark voice echoed all around him, urging his legs to run faster in fear.

"You are not a hero." Danny could feel the shiver running down his spine yet he still continued running. "You _never_ were a hero. The city you protected saw you as a menace and even your own parents wanted to take you apart and destroy you." The darkness parted and in front of him was the dreaded, yet recognized Nasty Burger and once more he saw bound to the tank of secret sauce was his friends and family. "And you failed to save all who were precious to you." The looks of fear in their eyes drove him forward to try and save them but before he could take two steps, another figure appeared in front of him.

Standing there before him was his evil future self. With his fanged other self grinning down at him the fear within Danny spiked as Dan created four duplicates of himself. "You see, I'm still here and no matter what silly little promises you make, you're still going to become me." Before Danny could do anything all four Dans unleashed powerful ectoblasts at him. "After all, it is only a matter of time..."

Sitting up with a start, Danny woke in a cold sweat and to his dismay found that he had been crying. He hadn't really had a nightmare like that in a long time but remembered that with his visit to their graves, it would make sense for a reoccurrence. Regaining his composure, he went to the bathroom and splashed his face with water.

Clearing his head, he turned his thoughts back to the tournament he was participating in and decided to figure out a few things. Transforming back into his ghost form, he concentrated for a moment and his backpack he had packed before he had left appeared on his back. Pulling out his cell phone he found that the time was still the same as when he had appeared with the rest of the heroes. He tried making a phone call yet all he got was a buzzing sound.

Floating up to the ceiling, he tried phasing through it but only accomplished bumping his head and then tried to do the same with the walls and floor, still getting the same results. "Damn it, what is with these walls?" Getting angry he was almost tempted to start blasting away at the walls but decided against it.

Turning around he found a tray of food that vaguely reminded him of his school's lunches on the dresser. "When did that get there?"

As if on cue the M.O.G's voice boomed throughout the room. "CHAMPIONS, ROUND TWO WILL BEGIN IN HALF AN HOUR. PREPARE YOURSELVES!"

Danny bolted down the meal that was provided for him, grabbed his bag and headed out.

In the main room from before he found Speedy, Robin, and Wilderbeest waiting for the next round. "Good luck today and may the best man win." Speedy said earning him a snort of disdain from Wilderbeest. "Oh, sorry, may the best champion win."

"Right back at ya Speedy." Robin said shaking his hand. He then looked around the room searching for his teammate. "Where's Cyborg? It's not like him to be late."

His question was soon answered by the M.O.G. "CYBORG WILL NOT BE JOINING US. YOUR FRIEND HAS BEEN DISQUALIFIED FOR ATTEMPTING TO SABOTAGE HIS FELLOW CHAMPIONS."

"He should have played fair." Robin said shaking his head. Danny could tell he was way too into this competition to think of anything else and with that assessment made, the young halfa turned his attention back to the M.O.G who he now knew for sure was lying. Cyborg was very competitive person but he never was one to cheat against someone. He may trick someone, play a harmless prank, or use every advantage possible, but he still never cheated. Danny had played against him quite a few times on Doom with and without Beastboy and not once did he use any cheats against him.

However, before he could contemplate much more, Danny's thoughts were soon interrupted by the M.O.G. "THE SECOND ROUND WILL BEGIN." A flash of light and once again everybody was gone.

Danny now found himself in a jungle terrain, but the odd thing was how quiet it was. Most jungles were filled with life such as insects and animals, but here it felt like it was completely devoid of life. A feeling of unease had settled in Danny yet that only made him put up his guard even more. If it was Robin or Speedy he was facing, they would have already exchanged greetings for a good fight. So the only opponent left was the untalkative Wilderbeest.

Taking a deep breath, he started walking through the forest, ducking under vines and moving around trees. Every so often he would hear some movement and rustling of vines and with a start of realization he soon realized he was at a distinct disadvantage against this opponent. Wilderbeest was an animal and this jungle area was most likely somewhere he was used to fighting in. It almost made Danny wonder if the M.O.G had wanted to make sure that he would lose in this match. Though if that was the case, just what did that mean for the fate of the losers?

Danny walked into a small clearing when his instincts screamed at him that he was about to be hit by a truck. His internal question was answered by a roar and he looked up just in time to see Wilderbeest ten feet above, falling towards him with his fists clasped together above his head.

Danny concentrated quickly and went intangible just in time to see Wilderbeest's massive fists go right through him, creating a crater where he was standing. Flying up into the sky, he now realized just how hard he was breathing and felt that his heart may pop out of his chest any second. That was too close. "He could have killed me with that hit and then I'd be full dead instead of half dead." As he thought about what he had just said to himself, he realized just how stupid it actually sounded.

After finally calming himself he looked down to see his beastly opponent, looking up at him, smiling as he waited patiently for him to return and fight. Deciding that he might as well since he had nothing better to do, he flew back down, phasing through trees as he circled his opponent to gain momentum.

Making a sharp turn, Danny flew forward and slammed his foot into Wilderbeest's side in the most powerful kick he could muster. Wilderbeest was pushed several feet but to Danny the only accomplishment he made was breaking his foot and/or leg, or at least that's what it felt like. To him, Wilderbeest's hide and muscles felt like solid concrete, which distinctly reminded him of the guy made out of stone he had fought a while back.

Anyways, Danny was in excruciating pain and when he saw that his opponent was distracted, Wilderbeest took advantage of this by grabbing him by said leg very roughly and swinging him around a couple of times before throwing toward some trees. The tree limbs Danny hit he broke as he continued onward and as just as he was about to slam into the trunk of a tree he managed to pull his concentration together just in time to phase right through it.

Floating up in the air Danny decided that for this powerful opponent he was going to have to use the heavy artillery. Concentrating through the throbbing pain in his leg he let a green glow consume his hands before unleashing volley after volley of ghost blasts. Wilderbeest was like a deer caught in the headlights and all the blasts hit their target.

When the smoke cleared, Wilderbeest was still standing with his arms covering his face defensively. Lowering his arms, he looked back up at Danny, his smile that he had been wearing seemed bigger than before and he snorted as if he was saying 'is that all you got?'

Danny knew now that if his normal ectoblasts were not going to work, he was going to have to use something much more powerful. It looked like he was going to have to use the ability Vlad had taught him.

_Flashback _

Vlad and Danny were standing in the middle of an open field on the outskirts of Jump City.

"Daniel, I want you to fire your most powerful ectoblast at that boulder." Vlad said motioning to one of the many boulders that inhabited the field.

"Could you _please_ call me Shade while I'm in my ghost form?" Danny sighed but decided not to ask why and fired what he considered to be his most powerful ectoblast. When the smoke cleared, there was a small crater with cracks spreading out from it where the blast had hit the boulder. "There, you happy now?"

"No Daniel, that was just sad."

"It's Shade. So, what, you think you can do better?"

Vlad sighed and in his hands he started gathering pink energy which got brighter by the second until it was a brilliant white with a pinkish hue. He unleashed the blast at another nearby boulder causing a huge explosion and when the smoke cleared there no longer was a boulder, just a big crater. "Now, I want you to do that." Vlad told a now stunned Danny.

_Present_

Danny started gathering energy in his hands just like Vlad had and the energy had taken a white glow with a greenish hue. When he unleashed the attack he saw Wilderbeest's eyes get as big as saucers just before the attack hit.

When the smoke dissipated, he saw his opponent sprawled out on the ground, dazed from the explosion. The M.O.G's voice rang out through the Jungle declaring Shade the winner followed by the ever so familiar flash of light.

When Danny opened his eyes he found that only he and Robin were in the main room. Hearing the M.O.G's voice once again they looked around but found he wasn't there. "CHAMPIONS, YOU WILL BE GIVEN A BRIEF REPRIEVE BEFORE THE FINAL ROUND."

At the M.O.G's words Danny sat down on the floor and started examining his injured leg while Robin watched with interest. "So Shade, how did your match go?"

"Well, without my powers I would be the equivalent of a human pancake right now with every bone in my body broken. You?" Danny replied, unwrapping some of the decorative bandaging from around his arms and wrapping it around his leg.

"Speedy was a real challenge but I was still able to beat him."

Danny finished wrapping his leg making sure it wasn't too tight before standing up and testing it. The pain wasn't that bad anymore but he knew it wouldn't be completely healed for at least a day. _Thank you ghost powers for the quick healing._

"Wilderbeest was a really powerful opponent and I was lucky that I recently learned the ability that I used to beat him with." At the quizzical look he got from Robin, he let out a sigh. "Unlike you Mr. Full-time Teen Titan, I don't fight villains for a living. I just try to live a 'normal' life, go to school and work at a normal job. I don't even really use my powers anymore unless the situation calls for it." Danny's eyes widened as he realized what he said and started the familiar, internal imaging and chanting of 'I'm stupid' over and over again while beating his head with the Fenton anti-creep stick .

"You go to school?" Robin's probing words caused Danny to grind his teeth in frustration at his own big mouth and thankfully his silent prayer for their match to begin was quickly answered.

"THE FINAL ROUND WILL NOW COMMENCE!"

Once the light cleared for Danny and Robin they found themselves in a city that looked very similar to Jump City. Danny even saw a building right across from him that looked oddly enough like where he worked. "FINALS, ROBIN VERSUS SHADE, BEGIN!"

Robin started off by running forward with his staff extended and swinging it at Danny. He smiled when he thought it was going to make contact but was surprised to find it go straight right through him. Danny took the advantage of his opponent's surprise to punch him.

Recovering from the attack and surprise, Robin threw a couple of exploding disks at Danny. Dodging them, but at the risk of letting down his guard, the young halfa ended up getting punched in the face and a kick to the stomach.

Suppressing a grunt, Danny quickly recovered from the blows and started flying up in the air. Focusing on his opponent, he created a green glow from his hands and started firing ectoblasts at the boy wonder. Robin dodged them to the best of his abilities while he studied them. At his first glance at the green blasts, he thought of the starbolts that Starfire used but when one came close to hitting his face he felt a cold sensation instead of the familiar warm one and with that observation made, he dismissed his thoughts.

Robin saw that he wasn't going to get a chance to get close with the barrage of blasts sent at him, so he threw down a couple of smoke bombs and disappeared into the shadows.

Danny looked all around for the boy wonder but could not find him. He then started wondering if it would be honorable or not to go invisible and search for him that way. Yet to his obliviousness, he didn't see the dark silhouette on the building right above him.

Soon enough, Danny was jolted out of his thoughts by the pain of a solid kick to his back that sent him spiraling to the ground. When he hit the concrete ground, most of the damaged focused around his legs, especially his already injured one. He tried getting back up but the pain in his leg said otherwise, so with the help of his good leg he was able to turn his body over onto his back, facing the sky.

Looking up Danny found Robin with his staff pointed down at him, smirking at his own loss he held out his hand which in turn was received. "Good fight Shade."

"Yeah, good fight Robin but... what's your prize?" Danny's question caught Robin off guard and before he could question the reply the M.O.G.'s voice rang out.

"WINNER ROBIN!"

A flash of light and they were both gone.

Robin found himself back in the main room with M.O.G., who was clapping his hands slowly. "CONGRATULATIONS ROBIN, CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS."

"So... I'm supposed to get some... prize or something like that?" Robin asked as he tried to figure out the reason for the M.O.G's change in demeanor.

"ROBIN, I DID SAY THERE WERE PRIZES, BUT THOSE PRIZES WERE NOT MEANT FOR YOU."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked not understanding what the M.O.G meant.

"YOUR PRIZE IS YOUR RETURN TO YOUR WORLD, BUT THE LOSERS STAY WITH ME." The M.O.G said evilly as he held up the gem around his neck. Robin could now see the glow and hear the pleas for help radiating from it.

_Why didn't I realize this was a trap? Cryptic warnings from Shade and Speedy... The blatant warnings from Cyborg... I let my arrogance and competitiveness cloud my judgment but now I'm going to fix my mistakes, no matter what._

Groaning softly, Danny found himself on the stone floor of a small cell that was surrounded by red energy. Getting up on his good leg he was about to try and blast his way out when a voice rang out. "Don't bother." He looked across from his cell and saw another cell where the voice came from, spotting Cyborg who was just sitting on the floor looking downcast. "We already tried busting out, so you will only just waste your energy."

Danny realized that Cyborg mentioned 'we' and looked around to see the other "losers" of the tournament in cells next to them. He also noticed the crystal in the middle of the area showing Robin fighting the M.O.G.

Feeling a drain on his energy unrelated to his injuries, Danny looked up to notice that on the top of his cell the crystals started to glow like all the other ones in the area. He ignored Cyborg's words to give up, and started frantically thinking about how to get out.

Firing an ectoblast towards the crystals it contacted the red barrier, but there was only a small explosion with no visible effect. Deciding that his best chance to get out was going to have to be his ghostly wail, he could only hope that he didn't revert back to his human form. Yet under the circumstances he had little choice because of the rate his energy was depleting. Looking at the other prisoners, he declared, "Everybody cover your ears." At the serious tone of his voice everyone complied, even Gizmo.

Taking a deep breath, Danny unleashed his Ghostly Wail towards the crystals above his prison shattering them instantly like glass and even with that accomplished, the wail continued reverberating throughout the chamber, creating a huge crack in the wall.

Robin had just escaped from getting barbequed by the M.O.G using Hotspot's powers, when the M.O.G suddenly stopped with a look of horror crossing over his face. The gem around his neck glowed a familiar shade of ghostly green and cracked. Following the splitting, a horrible sound that Robin instantly recognized issued forth from the gem. It was the same dreadful noise that he had heard echoing in Jump City when Punk Rocket had been beaten.

When the noise finally ceased, Robin took advantage of the M.O.G's surprise to land a solid kick on the gem.

When Danny finished his attack, he was exhausted but still able to keep himself in his ghost form and already could feel some of his energy that was drained from him returning. He noticed Cyborg and Speedy shakily getting out of their cells which thankfully had also been destroyed by his attack.

They could have passed for ghosts because of how pale they were but as soon as they left the cells their normal color started to return. Danny started pushing them towards the crack in the wall. "You guys gotta help Robin, while I free the others." Before either one could say anything he pushed them through the crack.

Walking over to the nearest cell he blasted the crystal, thereby releasing the prisoner who by chance happened to be Beastboy. "Dude what was that, that sound you made? Dude it was so awesome!"

"It was just my most powerful attack, more commonly known as my Ghostly Wail." Danny answered warily as he tried walking to the next cell but fell down to his knees. "And it exhausts a lot of energy." Beastboy helped him up and they moved on to the next cell containing Hotspot. With his flames extinguished, all they could see was a young Arabic boy.

After freeing Hotspot, he continued on to free Aqualad who in turn shivered. "It's very dry in here."

Next, he freed Wilderbeest and Gizmo. "That snot nosed, gunk eating ape is going to pay for tricking and imprisoning me." grumbled the pint sized genius as his backpack extended robotic legs to lift him off the floor. Wilderbeest just simply made a grunt, which Danny guessed was his way of saying thanks.

The last to be freed was Kid Flash, who got up shakily as he rubbed his head. "Shade, remind me to never make you mad. That attack of yours gave me one hell of a headache."

As everybody started walking towards the crack in the wall with Danny floating in the lead, the crack suddenly widened as the whole room shook. A flash of light filled the room.

Everybody now found themselves outside of the gem, standing around the M.O.G who had his head down in defeat. Dejectedly, he stated, "I lose." Another flash of light and he disappeared, leaving behind the gem that had been around his neck, now cracked and dull.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're all honorary titans." Robin said as he passed out communicators to everyone. Danny looked down at the one he was given and wondered just how many extra communicators Robin carried on him at one time, but then he realized that Cyborg probably kept a lot of extra ones on him. After all, who knew what was on that part robot body of his.

"Yo give me that!" Danny looked up in time to see Cyborg taking a communicator from Gizmo, who looked like he was about to take it apart. "You're not a good guy, remember?"

"Scum bucket toe jamming gunk eater!" Gizmo grumbled.

"Well dudes, it's been fun!" Beastboy said as he tossed the M.O.G's pendant to Robin.

"If you ever need us, you know where to reach us." Robin said looking at all the heroes around the room.

"Right back at you." Speedy declared voicing everyone's thoughts.

Robin raised the pendant, which glowed once more before a bright light flashed, and everyone was gone...

Danny now found himself floating in the air above the outskirts of Jump city. Making his backpack visible and tangible, he pulled out his cell phone. Checking the date and time, he found that only two hours had passed while he was at the 'tournament.'

Arriving back at his apartment he transformed back into his human form, but winced as he felt pain rush up his injured leg from the sudden weight he put on it. After all, in his ghost form he had been floating to lessen the pain in his leg. Getting out his first aid kit, he started tending to his leg and the few cuts he had received from his last two matches. Finishing, he decided to log on to Doom. He didn't get the status he had on the game by not playing.

Phantom has logged on

Ronan360: Hey Danny how was ur trip

Phantom: Very tiring

Ronan360: Haven't seen Matt stopped by his house but wasn't home

Phantom: Wonder where he's at

Firion98 has logged on

Firion98: Hey guys

Ronan360: wher the hell have u been

Phantom: yea wat he said

Firion98: Sorry Ive been busy with a job

Ronan360: OMG Matt has a job the world is ending and hell just froze over

Phantom: What kind of job

Firion98: you know this and that

Phantom: you aren't going to tell us are you

Firion98: Yep

Robin, Beastboy and Cyborg found themselves back in the Tower and were pinching themselves to make sure it wasn't all a dream. The girls weren't there, but they found the lunches that Terra had went to pick up before they "went to the tournament" sitting on the table. As they were eating Cyborg brought up the subject that had been on their minds for some time, Shade. "Robin, you remember that guy called Shade."

"Yeah, I fought him in the last round of the tournament. Why do you ask?"

"He saved our butts from being imprisoned in that guy's amulet."

"Yeah, and he used this super cool attack called the ghostly wail and everything started to shake and then he freed us all!" Beastboy said getting really excited.

"So he really was the one who caused that horrible sound and cracked the M.O.G's amulet." Robin said as he started thinking over all of the facts he had on Shade. "I think that he may be the person who has been helping us all this time in the city."

"That's what I've been thinking." Cyborg added. "He has white hair and his abilities do have to do with ghosts and spirits."

"Not to mention that sound attack he used to crack the amulet was like that noise we heard before when we found Punk Rocket defeated." Cyborg and Beastboy thought for a second before agreeing with their leader's observation. "Shade let slip that he goes to high school, trying to live a normal life. He probably goes to the same high school that Punk Rocket attacked."

"So are we going to look for him or try to contact him? We did give him a communicator." Cyborg asked. " I'm sure we can always use another member on the team."

"Even if he is the one who has been helping us, he didn't seem like he wanted to join our team."

The next day Danny found that his leg still hurt yet he had to go to work, so instead of walking, he flew. As he flew invisibly over the city and as he got closer to his work, he passed over the titans on their way out of a mall. Even though he was invisible, he could have sworn that he saw Raven look straight up at him.

Landing in the alley behind his work he hurried and clocked in. Once behind the register the phone rang, Cyborg was on the other end telling him that they were coming. The call reminded him that they had seen his ghost form and he hoped they hadn't figured out his secret and they won't figure it out at all. _Why didn't I ever think to start wearing a mask like Robin?_

Minutes later, the titans walked in and Cyborg and Raven approached the register while Beastboy and Terra went to look at CDs, and in the meantime Robin and Starfire went to the books. "Hi Raven, Cyborg, what have you'll been up to?"

"Nothing much, just got forced into a tournament of heroes by a guy who called himself the Master of Games." Replied Cyborg and he proceeded to go into great detail of everything that had happened. Danny listened to him carefully, trying his best to act like he wasn't there. "Then Shade used this powerful ability to destroy the cages that held us and we defeated the M.O.G."

"Hey Cyborg don't forget, I think he called it his ghostly wail." Said Beastboy as he and Terra walked up to the register. "Danny did any new games come in yet?"

"I don't know, let me go check." Danny walked to the back room, limping in a small and almost unnoticeable way. However, the one person who saw it was Robin while he explained to Starfire about the use of cookbooks. Robin noticed that there was a small amount of bandaging around the same leg that Shade bandaged up during their fight.

"Robin, are you well?" Robin turned to Starfire who looked at him with a worried expression on her face.

"I'm fine Star, I just kinda got distracted..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7 Terra's betrayal part 1**

In a bunker below Jump city, a lone figure stood before four screens that were showing a battle between a robot army and the Teen Titans in their own home. The figure watched calmly and calculatingly as his robots got the drop on each Titan while they went about their daily business. However, the army he had sent was destroyed, even with the surprise attack and the Titans being down one member.

The figure's single eye gazed at each individual Titan and finally came to a stop on his former apprentice, Robin. He had held Robin's friends' lives hostage through nanites, but his plan had failed and now he had found a new apprentice in Terra, who felt betrayed by the Titans. Holding up a remote, he pressed a few buttons and one of the screens pulled up Terra's stats.

Terra was a very powerful apprentice; she may not have been as good as Robin at hand to hand combat, but her geomancer powers more than compensated for that. She had a problem with her powers though, she couldn't control them but he was more than happy to give her the control she wanted.

Even with Terra as his apprentice, he felt like he didn't hold all the aces. Pressing a few more buttons another screen changed to show a white haired boy standing out of some rubble. Another screen switched to a video he had "persuaded" Gizmo to give him of the same boy fighting Robin. The fight was short, and the white-haired boy lost but the boy had held back against the Boy Wonder, intentionally or unintentionally. Either way, the boy had power, that much was certain, but he needed training.

Another screen changed to show a raven haired teen working at the register of a store. A close-up of the boy was put next to a close-up of the white haired hero. "Facial recognition complete..." The cold robotic voice of his computer cut through the quiet of the room. "Daniel Fenton is Shade."

'_He could pose a problem for my plans and he will be harder to get under my control unlike Terra. It's a shame to have to destroy such a promising individual, but if I'm going to destroy the Titans, it can't be helped.' _

"Terra!" A blonde walked in and kneeled behind him. Unlike her video counterpart who was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, she now wore blue armor and bandaging. "To prove your loyalty one last time… I want you to destroy Shade."

The last three weeks had been quite uneventful for Danny, other than his training with Vlad. He was now barely able to create a single clone, but it diminished his power greatly and the clone would be very unstable and would fall apart. Vlad told him he needed to focus better, but his mind was always a torrent of emotions and thoughts.

A duplicate of Danny appeared for a moment and took a step before falling apart in pile of ectoplasm then re-merging with the original, who fell to one knee breathing heavily.

"Well that was better than the last five times you tried, Daniel." Vlad said in an irritated tone as he floated near Danny. "At least you didn't grow a second head again." After a moment of silence Vlad sighed. "What's wrong Daniel? Why are you having such a hard time concentrating? You haven't gotten any better since our last training session."

After a moment of silence Danny stood up. When he looked at Vlad, his eyes were trying to hide the sadness and sorrow, but it still showed through the determined look that he was trying to muster. "Don't call me Daniel! I told you, I'm Shade in my ghost form. And it's nothing. I just haven't been sleeping well… Let's just give this another try."

Danny heaved a sigh as he left work. He was starting to get worried about the Titans. A week ago he had heard their tower had been attacked and there was a rumor circulating around that Terra, their new member, was a traitor and behind the attack. The Titans had not been to the store since the attack.

Danny had seen the Titans on the news, and Terra was not with them. They wouldn't comment on her absence. The Titans' expressions would also darken at the mention of her name; especially Beastboy, who he had heard had a crush on her.

Danny was brought from his thoughts of Terra and the Titans when he realized how empty the street was, and found this to be quite odd considering it was only eight in the evening. A figure stepped out of an alleyway in front of him. He almost didn't recognize who it was until the blonde turned to face him, her single blue eye peering from behind the hair that partially covered her face.

"Terra…" The word broke the deafening silence that had taken over the city.

"Hello, Danny, or should I refer to you as Shade… or maybe Phantom?" The words caught Danny off guard. He almost started to deny it, but realized it was pointless, seeing as how she knew his past. Two white circles appeared at his midsection, one going up, the other down, changing him into his ghost form.

"What do you want Terra?" Danny asked in a calm tone, though on the inside he was starting to panic.

Terra smiled the same smile that had made Danny feel uneasy around her the first time he had met her. "My master sent me to destroy you. Unless you will join us, of course."

"I hope this is an answer enough for you." Danny shot an ecto-blast knocking Terra off her feet as she screamed in outrage. Taking his chance, Danny went invisible and started flying away. His escape attempt was stopped by a large rock and earthen wall that rose in front of him. Turning around, he found Terra wearing a pair of blue goggles and staring right at his invisible form. Realizing he was not going to be able to avoid this conflict, he let himself become visible and his hands started glowing green. "I guess you'll have to try and destroy me Terra."

Robin had just destroyed one of Slade's robots as three more appeared before him. He and the other Titans had received a call to the coal mines just outside Jump city and were met by a large amount of Slade's robots.

'_Why is Slade attacking this mine? It's been empty for years.' _Robin swung his staff around decapitating two robots before jumping into the air and planting his foot into the chest of the third. _'Where is Terra; she is now his apprentice.'_ Throwing an explosive disc, he destroyed a robot that had been sneaking up on Cyborg, who was busy fighting 3 others. After clearing the area of robots, the thought struck Robin: "Titans, we've got to get back to Jump; this was just a diversion!"

"Good, Robin, but you won't make it in time." The voice of Slade echoed through the mine, and more Robots started gathering around the Titans as they prepared to fight their way out.

"It will be my pleasure." Terra responded, and she sent stones and rock straight at Danny who went intangible in response.

'_What just happened_?' Danny felt like he had just been punched several times as the rocks went through his intangible form. _'It must have been that yellow glow around those rocks, it's interfering with my intangibility.'_ Danny became tangible, still reeling from the hits he took, but he flew at Terra anyway, dodging the next rain of stones she sent at him. When he got closer to her, a wall of stone appeared in front of him. He flew upward, going over the wall, and was knocked down by a boulder to the side.

Terra was on a floating rock above the wall she had created, grinning as Danny collided with the ground. She sent two more boulders and half of the one she was standing on straight at Danny, who sent three green blasts destroying the boulders before they could reach him. He continued unleashing blast after blast at Terra, who was now on the defensive and busy dodging his blasts.

"What's wrong, Danny; is the little boy who failed to protect his friends and family still weak?" Terra's word struck a chord in Danny, and he started unleashing more blasts, but they became more erratic. Terra took the opportunity of Danny's anger and caused the ground underneath him to explode, knocking him upward where she quickly brought a grapefruit sized rock to hit him squarely in the chest.

The blow had not only winded Danny, but he felt like she may have either cracked his ribs or broke a few, neither of which he was sure of. All he knew was the pain he felt as he was sent back downward and hit the ground. Getting back up was hard for Danny, as he tried to catch his breath and ignore the excruciating pain he felt.

Terra smiled a chillingly cold smile when she saw victory within her grasp. She brought a rock the size of a small car up in the air and sent it at Danny.

Danny responded with an ecto-blast that destroyed the rock, causing Terra to turn away from him and shield her face for only a few seconds. Seconds he used to close the distance between himself and her, and by the time Terra saw him, the once confident look she had been wearing was gone and replaced with a slight look of fear. Through the pain he had been trying to ignore, he unleashed his ghostly wail at nearly point blank range. The wail lasted for only a second and was very weak, and left Danny coughing and hacking as the pain in his diaphragm heightened greatly.

The wail may have been very weak, but to Terra it felt like she had been hit by a wall. She was knocked off her floating rock, but she stopped her decent by catching herself with another rock. Seeing Danny was no longer defending himself, she sent a rain of rocks at him.

Danny went intangible but only lasted for a moment, as a rock went through his side and disrupted his power, making him tangible once more. CRACK! A stone collided with his head and he started falling towards the street below. Terra opened a rift in the ground, allowing him to drop into the sewer then closed it afterwards. "Master, I have carried out my orders."

"Good, Terra, now return." Slade's voice replied through the ear piece she wore.

Danny, now in his human form, was fading in and out of consciousness as he lay on the wet ground of the sewer. His mind was hazy from the head impact, and his chest and sides which were still a blaze of pain which was now beginning to dull. He had been staring at the fissure in the ceiling for a few moments when he felt a chill run down his spine and he could see a puff of his breath. _'Oh great, my ghost sense went off! Maybe its Skulker, finally coming to turn me into the pelt on his wall.'_ Danny tried to sit up but a jolt of pain stopped his attempt and he settled for closing his eyes, waiting for the whirring of an ecto-gun or an ectoblast being sent at him. What he **didn't **expect was being licked a couple of times.

Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see a little green dog looking at him, before it yapped happily. "Cujo? What are you doing here?" Danny slowly petted Cujo who, in turn, started licking his hand and then his face. "Alright Cujo, down boy owww…" Cujo immediately stopped licking him and looked at his master, concerned that he was hurting. Cujo then took on his much larger size and laid down, pulling on Danny's arm. Taking the hint, he slowly put his arm around Cujo and heaved himself onto Cujo's back, ignoring as much pain as he could.

Cujo stood up slowly, careful of his injured rider, and, turning them both invisible and intangible, went through the nearest wall and up to the streets by running through apartment buildings.

The Titans arrived at the scene of Danny and Terra's fight to find the police and crime scene investigators already searching the rubble for clues.

"I'm glad you got here, Titans. And the coal mines?" the detective and chief of the meta-human unit asked as he approached them.

"It was just a diversion. As soon as we figured that out, we hurried as fast as we could to get back to the city, but Slade had this planned out well." answered Robin, as the rest of the Titans scanned the battle scarred landscape.

"Yes, Slade had whatever he was doing planned out well. Phone calls and alerts came in about Terra attacking an unknown victim, but all responders were attacked by Slade's infernal robots."

"Was anybody injured?" Robin asked, his voice even, but his masked anger leaking into his words.

"Thankfully no, but we suspect that whoever was attacked may be injured or worse, thanks to this." The detective held up a bag that contained a rock with a jagged edge. It was coated in a red substance that looked blood except for the splotches of glowing green in it.

Robin gritted his teeth but kept his cool, while the rest of the Titans looked extremely worried. "You wouldn't mind the Titans helping you in searching the area?"

"Not at all; we really need the help with all the fissures in the ground and the rubble created by Terra."

Robin nodded to the detective before telling his team what to do. The Titans started helping with the search, moving rocks quickly and efficiently, and doing their best not to let their worry for who had been attacked cause them to make mistakes.

They worked for an hour until… "Robin! Everybody! Over here!" Everyone hustled over to Beastboy who had just moved a rather large rock. Cyborg shined his shoulder light onto the ground, where there was a drop of the same strange blood the detective had shown them.

Robin examined the blood before looking at the others. "This is a gravitational blood splatter, indicating that whoever was attacked was either standing here or was above here." Looking around, Robin noticed that among all the fissures and rubble in the area, the ground ten feet away was bulging upward as if it had been forcefully closed. "Raven, pull that ground open." Raven did so quickly, revealing a hole leading into the sewer.

Cyborg shined his shoulder light into the sewer, while Starfire held the green energy that formed her starbolts, illuminating the area as much as possible. Robin nodded to Raven, who created a black disk underneath them and lifted all of them down into the hole.

Once inside the sewer, they found themselves in a dead-ended corridor with running water blocking the other end. Beneath the hole they used to get down, they found a little more blood and the imprint of where someone had been laying on the ground. With whoever was attacked missing, the only clue left was a single glowing strand of white hair that which, after a few moments, turned black…


	9. Chapter 9

The green and red substance unnerved Robin. He didn't like it at all. It reminded him of something, something recent...

"Sh-Shade!"

Beast Boys eyes widened. "N-no! It can't be Shade! H-he too strong for that..."

The Titans stared down at the rivers of blood. Raven looked up, confused. "If he was hurt this bad, he wouldn't be able to even _move_!"

Cyborg tilted his head to the left, concern for his friend masking his face. "Well... if he's not down here... and not up there-" He pointed up toward the streets above them, then looked around. "...Then where the hell _is_ he?"

Suddenly, the five super teens jumped. A loud noise echoed throughout the tunnels. It sounded like... barking? Then a blood-curdling scream rang in their ears.

"...Shade...?" Robin's eyes were wide behind his mask.

Beast Boy immediately cocked his head. He pointed to the left-most tunnel. "_It's coming from there!_" The teens ran down the tunnel, faster than they had ever run before, the howling echoing around them as they delved into the darkness. Another scream rang through

It took a while for Danny to become aware of his surroundings. He tried to lift his head, but a sudden pain told him that his neck muscled were un-usable at the moment. A loud bark made him jump, and he screamed from the agony. The creature instantly started to whine, and Danny felt it lick his face, repeatedly.

_W-where am I?_

Suddenly, as if two sharp pencil had been pushed into his temples, the memories of the last two _years_ came flooding back to him. Painfully.

He screamed, again. Terra, the Titans, Pain, Slade...

_Make it **STOP!**_

Cujo, by his side, threw his head back and howled.

Titans, Terra, Slade, Pain, Slade, Pain, Ecto-Blood, DNA trans-fusion, the portal, _Sam_, _Tucker_…

The Titans jumped as another scream echoed through the tunnel complex. Starfire was crying, now.

Robin sighed, a frustrated growl, almost. "We're never going to find him this way!"

Cyborg stopped next to him. "I know! But what else can we do?"

Robin grabbed his hair and screamed. It was a low sound, almost like a growl. "W-We'll have to go back and get the police force to help us search the sewer system. There's no other way!" he growled again, punching the wall in frustration.

Raven sighed. Honestly, she looked about ready to cry. Raven _never_ cried, unless something was wrong, terribly wrong. Like this predicament, for instance.

The Titans ran back the way they had come.

Raven suddenly cocked her head to the side. _Terra, Pain, Titans, AGGGHHH!_

The force of the thoughts made her stumble back a few feet.

… _Shade?_

"_Raven, _come on! We don't have any time to lose!" The rest of the Titans were already up the ladder. They looked down at her. She levitated herself up to the street.

There was a group of police men and women surrounding them. Bystanders were fidgety, looking around nervously.

"Titans, are you okay?" A force member came over to them. "We heard screaming..."

Robin interrupted him. "We know who Terra attacked. It was Shade."

The people in the crowd gasped. They had heard about this super teen, the newest addition to the Titans, it had seemed. He had been seen helping the Teens out on many occasions.

The Police man paled. "Shade? T-that was _him_?"

Cyborg nodded. "Yeah! And it sounded like he's still being attacked! By, like a.. dog, or something."

Starfire nodded, stuttering. "A very, very, really _large_ canine animal with the sharp teeth!"

The police men started to panic. "Where is he? Is he alright? Why isn't he here?"

Robin sounded desperate, "We can't find him! Thats why w-we came back here! We need your guy's help!"

The police tried to follow the sound of the screams above ground, and other teams of volunteers went into the sewers with the Titans, in groups. It seemed that the whole of Jump city was looking for the lost hero.

A scream echoed through the tunnels, and Raven, Beast Boy, and Robin team all met up in a crossroads in the tunnels. "It's this way!" They all shouted to each other, taking off down the tunnel on their right.

However, Raven wasn't following with her ears. The thoughts she had picked up earlier, they _had_ to be Shade's, they _had_ to!

Her team entered a clearing, and the volunteers screamed. Before them stood a large dog, most likely some type of mastiff, and it looked downright _terrifying. _It had muscular limbs, and snarling teeth that scared the socks off even Raven.

But she pushed her fears aside. Stepping forward, she called out, in a somewhat shaky, but calmed, voice, "Where is Shade, mutt?"

Said mutt apparently didn't like being called that. He growled, and Raven was forced to take a few steps back. However, and low and quiet moan was heard behind the monster. "C-Cujo, no. F-Friends..."

Raven gasped. "Shade!"

He looked terrible. Too terribly beaten to even picture in your head. Raven grabbed her communicator. "Robin! Raven to Robin, come in, Robin! I found Shade!"

Robin didn't even answer. He and the rest of the Titans were at the direct location in under 45 seconds.

Beast Boy couldn't take it, and neither could Starfire. She hid her face in Ravens cloak, and the half demon patted her back awkwardly as she cried. Beast Boy shifted into a muskrat and buried himself under ground. They were as scared of "Cujo" as Raven had been, perhaps even more so.

Suddenly, though, Cujo shrank to the size of a Jack Russel Terrier, and started to lick Shades face clean, whimpering affectionately.

Robin approached the two hesitantly. The green dog grew back to full size, and growled menacingly at the Boy Wonder.

Another moan reached Ravens ears. "N-_No_, Cujo. Friends... help.. us..."

A volunteer was staring fearfully. "W-We've gotta help him!"

Shade started to moan. "H-help... friends... help."

Robin ran over to him. "Shade! Shade, can you hear me? Answer! Shade!"

The white haired teenager coughed violently, and it seemed to pain him even more. "White Angel... bad angel.. bad angel.. bad..."

This confused them even more. "What d-do you mean, Shade? Who is the white angel..."

Beast boy started to shake.

Shade's eyes glazed over. "Black Angel.. is..a- good angel... good angel... good..."

Robin gasped. "H-he's in some sort of trance!"

Cyborg was pale. "Yo, Shade, thats creepy man, s-stop!"

Shade only repeated. "White Angel is a -_cough_- good angel... -cough- ...good ...angel..good..." He broke into a fit of coughing. Cujo started to whimper.

Raven was panicking. "Guys, Cujo said '_Bad_'!"

The volunteers broke out of their revere, and rushed forward. Robin took out a communicator. "Chief, we've found Shade -over."

Danny felt like hell. No, wait. It felt like Hell had frozen over and Lucifer had found a new, even worse place to torture his victims. He screamed through his teeth, but felt a cold cloth touch his forehead and tried to calm down, but it didn't work. He swore heard someone talking in the distance, though it was but a low buzz compared to his own thoughts, which were screaming bloody murder at him.

He threw his head back, trying to break free of the bonds that held him tight to whatever he was lying on.

_Make it **STOP!**_

Robin flinched as Shade once again screamed in pain. He was trying to break free of his bonds, which held him tightly to the hospital bed. Cyborg was trying his best to help the doctors out, but Shades body biology and inner DNA functions were too complex for them to understand.

A nearby doctor grabbed his hair, tears of frustration leaking from his tightly closed eyes. "I-I don't know what to do! I-I can't help him! I-I just can't!"

The nurse started to cry. Everyone wanted to help Shade so very much.

Suddenly a very bright, neon green light appeared in the room. It formed itself into a circle and let forth a monster.

It was almost like a yeti, large coarse, white fur covered it entire being, and long, sharp, pearly teeth sprouted from it mouth.

It smiled, somehow comforting. "Where is the Great One?"

Danny felt immense pain. Nothing but pain, for the last... he didn't even know how long.. So, when the pain suddenly receded, when it vanished, without a trace... he felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth. How... How had the Titans find him?

_F... Frostbite._

"_What?_" Cyborg yelled. "Are you crazy, man? … Yeah, you're crazy... a yeti- phhttt! Technology... _really_... and, then... said to _freeze_ him? … Nu-uh, no way... but what about... _ghosts_? Yeah, right..."

"We are sorry, Friend Frostbite," Starfire said nervously as Cyborg mumbled on. "My Friend seems to be... reluctant to try your methods."

The Yeti-like ghost king of the Far Frozen smiled. "No need to apologize, friend of the Great One. Our ghostly techniques are always treated as such." His expression darkened, and they all flinched as Shade screamed once again in pain. "However, this method is the Great Ones only hope, if he wishes to exist further."

Beast Boy froze, eyes wide. "You.. you mean, that if Shade dies... he-he won't..."

Frostbite nodded. "He will no longer exist. You see, when a ghost dies, they fade from the time-space continuum, and they no longer... well, _exist. _Not even remains are left of them, and after they fade, their lair, or home, will fade as well._"_

Raven stared at him. "G- Glade I'm no ghost... "She shuddered.

The doctors put Shade into the strange machine, gently. They were quite nervous. They did not want to anger the terrifying creature before them.

After they shut and closed the air lock on the the door, the machine whirred to life, and a strange humming sound emitted from its depths. The controls froze over, suddenly. The doctors looked to Frostbite instantly, cowering.

But he nodded. "That's suppose to happen." He told them, and they, visibly, relaxed. Robin resisted the urge to laugh, but couldn't for worry for his friend.

Suddenly the door of the machine burst open. They all jumped. Shade had only been in there for, what, twenty minuets?

A black blur swept past everyone and ran right into Frostbite. The yeti smashed into the wall. Slade was smiling evilly.

"Dude! This feels awesome! I'm totally juiced! It's like that time I had, like, six espresso shots in my super mocha malt madness milkshake from Starbucks and was wired for four days and couldn't sleep or sit still for more than, like, two minutes! I should get deep frozen more often! I should get mortally wounded more often! Wait. That's going too far. But the North Pole's cold, like, all the time, right? Maybe I should visit. See the polar ice caps. See polar bears. Go swimming! Swimming with polar bears! Did I mention I could hold my breath for, like, forever?" He didn't even pause for a response before chattering on.

Raven had a hand over her mouth and was trying not to laugh. Robin just stared, wide eyed. Cyborg looked at Shade stupidly. Beast Boy broke into giggles, along with the rest of the doctors. Starfire squealed and flew at Shade, enveloping him in a hug. Shade grinned psychotically and gave her a bear hug. He laughed happily and flew right through the roof of the hospital, not even bothering to phase.

Everyone had froze. Frostbite chuckled. He opened another portal into the spirit realm and said, stepping through it. "He's your problem now..."

**Now, I know Its not as good as you guys wanted it, but I didn't have much time to think this up, and even less time to write it down! Sorry it is so short. **

**With love, waffles, and peace for all the platypus's-**

**~Scy**


	10. Chapter 10

They had been looking for the ghost teen for hours. No relent. They had come across smashed crates and sides of buildings. But no Shade. And everyone in Jump City seemed to be looking for him.

Where was Shade?

Suddenly, a bark sounded throughout the streets. A green blur attached itself to Ravens leg. Everyone stared at the adorable mastiff puppy. A dead puppy-ghost-of course. Cujo? Was that what Shade had called him?

The pup yapped happily. Raven knelt and patted its head awkwardly. "H-hey, Cujo..." Cujo stared up at her, panting slightly. "...Um... where's.. Shade? Do you know where, uh, Shade is, boy?"

A black blur appeared next to her, and she jumped. They all broke into smiles as Shade himself grinned down at her, floating three feet in the air.

He laughed. "Yeah, sorry 'bout the cold rush. Tends to happen when a ghost with an ice core is deep frozen."

Raven sighed, suddenly tired. "Yeah..."

"Just be grateful your not in the Ghost Zone. It's much worse there."

The rest of them paled. Robin took a step forward, however. "The Ghost Zone? What's that?"

Cujo barked, and tackled Shade to the ground. The ghost laughed and tried to pry the pup off his face, which was undergoing a puppy saliva bath.

"The Ghost Zone," he told them, after he was upright again, "is the dimension that exists right next to the human world. Some ancient rulers, like Alexander the Great, and Cleopatra, found rips in midair. That's usually where they obtained all their world power Inter-dimensional rips are a rare find in this world, unless a ghost or human scientist figures out a way to create one. Natural rips can occur in any place, any time, and usually are either unbelievably small, or huge enough to fit an airplane through." The teen ghost smirked. "A more regular rip site is the Bermuda Triangle. Its a regular ghost hangout, so the spiritual energy flow makes the atmosphere particularly strong in that area. Some rips even take you to the past or future, which is why we have the Master of Time, Clockwork, controlling the space-time continuum."

They stared at him. Robins knees were feeling a little weak. "Wow..."

Starfire gazed at him. "You seem to know vast amounts of knowledge on this subject, Friend Shade."

The boy nodded. "Yup. Clockworks my dad." _Not really, but close enough, since my real dad happens to be... away. _Was what the young teen had wanted to say, but he'd caught his tongue just in time, before the words slipped through his teeth.

They stared at him.

"Wow," Beast Boy said. "So, your like the... Apprentice of Time mastery, or something?"

Shade shrugged. "I guess. I don't really know. Clockworks pretty powerful. He's as old as Time itself. He's never gonna fade, I'm sure of it."

"Oh," Cyborg nodded "... wait, he _how_ old?"

Shade snorted, and Robin took a moment to register the fact that he was being really... chatty, at the moment. "As old as time itself. Which is... pretty old."

Cyborg blinked rapidly. "Ah, so... How old does that make you?"

Shade grinned. "Me? I'm just two."

Raven's eye's bugged out. "Y-You're _two_?"

He frowned slightly. "Hm, well, in _ghost_ years. I'm not sure about human years... But I'm guessing that in your years, I'm pretty old, too."

"Oh."

"Yup."

"Why don't you know?" Beast Boy wouldn't let it slide.

Shade glanced at him, shrugging mysteriously. "Well, I don't remember. I've kinda been stuck in a timeless, sub-dimension for the past few years."

The green-skinned boy blinked. "Oh."

Shade tilted his head down. There was something that had happened to him, between the two years he had lived in Jump. He'd known about Vlad's talk with the other ghosts, but that didn't mean the other halfa had gotten _all_ of them to agree. There was the Ghost King, of course, but he was in a cyro-sleep. And Clockwork, but Shade was absolutely convinced that his newfound father wouldn't even dream of hurting him.

Then there were the Observers.

They'd come after him, just as he'd been living in Jump for about a year. After the capture had transpired, Shade had concluded that they had been planning this for a while. Though, it did not escape him that Clockwork surely knew of it.

But he hadn't. Somehow, the green, one-eyed ghost committee had gone behind Clockwork's back.

It had _hurt_, all the pain they had put him through. Then, they'd stashed him in a place where Time hadn't even existed, and left him. He'd been so sure that they were gone for good, that they were planning to leave him there forever, out of their hair. Never to come back. He had been so sure that no one was ever to find him again. To retrieve him.

But then Clockwork had come, and saved him again.

There had been a flash, and Shade had found himself as Danny, in his apartment, right where he'd been when the Observers had confiscated him. Same exact time, same exact place, same exact age.

He'd been the same age throughout the whole ordeal, of course. But he wasn't sure how long he'd been in the timeless sub-universe.

Every time he thought about it, the contradictions of it all made his head hurt.

Cujo pounced again, and Shade barely had time to ready himself.

His mind suddenly went back, to when Terra had attacked him. She'd looked like an angel, which had sparked the sudden though of his Dark Angel, the demon Titan. They were both beautiful, but only Raven was a friend. Terra was evil, despite her supposed history with the Titans as friends.

The stories, all of them, which he had ever heard depicted the light angel to always be the hero, the good one, on the nice side of things. But Terra wasn't. Terra hadn't been, as she had crushed Shade's ribcage under her armored foot.

Raven was, however. Despite everything he'd been told, all the legends of evil dark angels, how he'd heard that the Blackest angels were the most evil, the terrors. But Raven was the good one. She was his rescuer.

These had been Shades thoughts as he'd lost consciousness under the city the day before.


End file.
